


This Is Not What I Signed Up For

by KatmaTui



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Awkwardness, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gen, Not Canon Compliant, ShippedThem!, early season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-03-02 14:04:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 34,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2814653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatmaTui/pseuds/KatmaTui
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Agent May has a simple mission that should help bolster the working relationship between S.H.I.E.L.D. and General Talbot. But when it creates an opportunity to gather intel on a possible Hyrdra spy it requires some quick thinking on her part--and bribing Talbot in to helping her do something he really doesn't want to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“I still don't understand why we don't just pass along the files to Talbot electronically,” Agent Melinda May said.

She had her phone cradled between an ear and shoulder as she dug through the smaller of the two boxes a S.H.I.E.L.D courier had just delivered to her hotel. Inside under bubble wrap were two neatly wrapped presents complete with ribbons and big bows.

“We're lucky General Talbot is willing to do anything with us,” Coulson replied. “Getting grilled on why he's receiving encoded messages emailed from an agency that many aren't willing to separate from Hydra yet could cause some problems for him and we don't need anything to strain this relationship anymore than it already is.”

“Especially since part of the foundation for that relationship is built on you threatening him with stealth aircraft,” May said.

“There's that too.”

“You're still hoping he'll help us with surveillance on General Fallon aren't you.”

It was more of a statement than a question. But Coulson still responded.

“It would make things easier for us,” he said. “We're in a precarious position and getting caught spying on a General is more damage we don't need. Hunter's source may be certain he's Hydra, but I'm not going to be convinced until I see actual evidence. I'm also not going to completely ignore it, the General has too many ties to military tech Hydra would love to get their hands on. He might not be dirty by choice.”

“Blackmail,” May said.

“Exactly.”

“So what's my cover again?” she asked.

“You're a former S.H.I.E.L.D agent who now does security consultation,” Coulson said. “You've started your own company and thanks to Senator Bailey you're working on getting a government contract so you'll be in and out of Washington as the need arises. The reason you'll be visiting Talbot is that you have uncovered something in your work that you believe is actually military property and the Senator suggested the General as the best person to go to.”

May unwrapped the presents. Inside the smaller one was a rigid cardboard box that contained a manila envelope, which had been sealed with security tape. The other held a black leather purse with a wallet, cell phone and assorted items inside a Rite Aid shopping bag. The plastic bag contained hand sanitizer, sunscreen, tampons, a small first aid kit, a sewing kit, hair brush, way too flowery perfume, disinfectant wipes, aspirin, lip gloss, lotion, gum, breath mints, a small bottle of Fabreeze, and condoms. _What the fu..._

“Who packed this purse? Jemma?” May asked.

“Jemma and Skye. They packed the garment bag too. Why?”

“What the Hell do they think I'm doing on this mission?” May asked.

“They were told to pack a for a businesswoman, why?”

“Because they...never mind.”

“Is there a problem?”

“Why is this all set up under my real name?” She changed the subject and concentrate on her new identification and business cards.

“This is a good set up for you,” Coulson replied. “If things don't work like we hope then you have something to go to in the aftermath.”

“You need to stop thinking like that,” May told him.

“I need to keep thinking like that. I need to make sure my team has something to fall back on if things go badly,” Coulson said.

“We've already survived one Hydra coup, we can survive another,” May said.

“Some days I'm not so sure of that,” Coulson said.

“Bad day?” she asked.

“We lost two in South Africa this morning,” he said.

“Damn.”

A moment of silence passed.

“Anyway, the Senator has you on the approved guest list,” Coulsons said. “Your rental car should be waiting for you at this point, check with the concierge for the keys. Just get in, drop off the package to Talbot and, well, then you can have the night off. We need to have you back at The Playground by tomorrow evening though.”

“What am I supposed to do here with a night off?” she asked.

“I don't know, go visit your Mother? She's still in town right?”

“That's not funny.”

“I wasn't trying to be funny. Think about it.”

“I will,” she said. _For the briefest possible moment_ , she thought as she hung up.

 

 

Talbot's office was located in Building H on Andrews Air Force Base. Civilian Melinda May was required to jump through all the security hoops every other civilian was subject to at the main gate and then had to try and find a parking spot in a visitor lot somewhere near the right building. Her first impression of the Building H was that it was annoyingly quiet. The low heels she wore clacked across the tile floor as she moved to the front desk to check in. Everyone in the waiting area turned to look at her while she walked. There was simply no way in an outfit like this to go unnoticed in the reception area. Which, even if that wasn't part of the mission parameters, still made her feel like she was failing her training. The receptionist smiled and glanced at the badge May had been given at the gate.

“Who do you have an appointment with?” she asked.

“General Talbot,” May replied. She faked a smile. “Senator Bailey set up the appointment for me.”

“One moment,” the receptionist said. She turned her attention to her computer and then picked up her phone. “I believe he's still in a meeting, let me just call down to his office.”

“No problem, I know I'm a bit early,” May said.

The front doors opened and a wave of raucous laughter rolled in. May turned to see a group of older men in officer's uniforms enter the building. She picked out two generals among the colonels and majors. One of the generals stopped at the desk and picked through a stack of newspapers that sat on the counter. He turned his attention to May when he heard the receptionist on the phone.

“...for General Talbot. Is he still in a meeting?” the receptionist asked. She looked at May. “If you don't mind having a seat, he should be free in about ten minutes.”

“I don't see why she can't wait in his office,” the general at the end of the counter said. “I can walk her back.”

 _That's...unusual_ , May thought.

“I don't mind waiting out here,” she said to him.

“Nonsense,” he said. He waved a hand in the air. “I'm Sam Phillips by the way.” He held out the hand he'd just waved. “And you are?”

She shook the offered hand and noticed he did a quick head to toe check on her.

“Melinda May,” she replied. “Nice to meet you General Phillips.”

“You can call me Sam,” he said.

“Sam.” She forced another smile and pulled down on the back of her blouse in an attempt to raise the low neckline.

 _Overly friendly and a wedding ring...Skye and Jemma are never allowed to pack anything for me ever again_.

“Follow me,” the General said.

The receptionist hung up the phone and went back to her work. May sized up the General as she followed him. At least ten years older than her, slight limp and based on his weight he probably struggled to meet his yearly PT test.

 _I can take the sleaze if I have to. Easily. Maybe I should just on general principle_.

“I really wouldn't have minded waiting out front,” May told him.

“Normally I wouldn't offer to bring someone's visitor back,” the General said. “But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to finally meet you...”

“I'm sorry? Finally?”

The general didn't hear her and continued to talk.

“I've got to be able to pass the intel along to my wife,” he said. “I don't know if Glenn mentioned it, but she has been trying to fix him up with a couple different friends of hers for the last month or so...”

“Why would he...”

“He kept telling her he was seeing someone,” the General went on, “but his mystery woman was never around for get togethers or dinners out.”

 _Oh God_.

“I'm not...”

“My wife has been convinced he made you up to avoid getting fixed up,” the General said. “Personally I was worried he went the mid life crisis route and hooked up with some twenty year old college coed.” He turned to look at her. “I'm SO relieved to meet you in person.”

 _Did he just imply I was old? I'm pretty sure he just called me old. I SHOULD take him out_.

They'd arrived in an open area with a secretary at a circular desk in the middle of the room. The woman briefly looked up and then went back to her work. There were office doors along the two side walls and then at the back a hallway led off somewhere. The back wall also had a glass partition that showed off a kitchenette. Inside the kitchenette General Talbot fixed himself coffee and talked to two other uniformed men. He happened to look up as he sipped his coffee and nearly choked when he saw Agent May standing next to General Phillips.

May found herself amused by the look of terror on Talbot's face and forgot all about the need to correct General Phillips on who she actually was. She quickly found herself steered in to Talbot's office and the General rambled on again about how nice it was to finally meet her as he wandered out the door. She could still hear Phillips as he went down the hall.

“I don't know why you didn't bring her around sooner my friend,” Phillips said.

“What are you talking about?” Talbot replied.

General Phillips laughed.

“You Mr. Humble...definitely an improvement. No offense to your previous of course, unless you want me to offend her.” Phillips said.He followed that up with a cackle of laughter that moved off down the hall somewhere.

Talbot stepped in to his office, looked at May and then down the hall. He pointed towards the direction Phillips had headed as he looked back at May.

“What...was that?” Talbot asked.

“Apparently General Phillips thinks I'm your girlfriend,” May replied.

Talbot closed his office door.

“What the Hell did you tell people to get on this base?”

“I didn't have to tell them anything other than the truth, I have an actual appointment to be here.”

“No you...wait, you're the agent who left S.H.I.E.L.D to become a consultant?”

“I didn't leave, Director Coulson created this cover to hopefully make things easier to pass information on to you.”

“So why does Sam think we're...involved?”

Talbot set his coffee down at the corner of his desk, sunk in to his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I have no idea....Aren't you married?” May said. She fold her arms across her chest.

“As of five months ago, not anymore,” Talbot said.

May winced and dropped her arms to her sides.

“Oh,” May replied.

Talbot nodded once and straightened some file folders on his desk.

“So which is it?” She asked him.

“Which is what?”

“General Phillips and his wife are split on whether you made up a girlfriend to avoid getting fixed up or you're dating some college girl. Which is it?”

“Yeah, we're not going to have a discussion about my personal life,” he said. He cleared his throat. “I'm guessing the whole military property story isn't accurate either.”

“You're right, that's not why Coulson sent me.”

She stared at him. He shifted in his seat. May continued to stare.

“I'm NOT dating a college student. I just don't...never mind. Why are you really here?”

May pulled the manila envelope out of the purse. She sat down in the chair in front of Talbot's desk and slid it across to him.

“We understand you're working with the Army on the Triskelion excavation,” May said. “And Director Coulson is pretty confident that you aren't happy about having to defer to the Army on this one.”

Talbot clinched his fists and set his jaw. He exhaled through his nose slowly.

“General Bridgeman is trying to get his hands in to things and he has a couple Senators willing to back him up,” Talbot told her. “Apparently my promotion with all of this has inspired others to think they can use investigating S.H.I.E.L.D and Hydra to get the same results.”

“We're thinking you'd like the opportunity to show him up and keep hold of the reigns,” May said.

Talbot looked down at the sealed envelope. He rubbed the palms of his hands together slowly for a moment and then finally pulled the envelope towards him. He leaned back in his chair and stared at it.

“And there's something in there that will help me do that?”

“The plans to the Triskelion.”

“Bridgeman has those already, S.H.I.E.L.D had to file a copy with the Pentagon back in the 80's after a Senate subcommittee deemed it necessary to your continued operation so close to the White House.”

“There were blueprints filed yes,” May said.

Talbot leaned forward. His eyes narrowed.

“But?” he asked.

“But we might have accidentally given the blueprints from the original construction, instead of the ones that included all of the renovations and extensions. Extensions that included escape tunnels that could lead someone back in to the subterranean levels without having to excavate through all that debris.”

“Son of a...” Talbot leaned back in his chair again. He laughed and shook his head. “You people amaze me. The gall you have...”

“I can take it back if you don't want it,” May told him. “It does include the directions for disarming the incinerators under several of the storage rooms...”

“Incinerators. Are you telling me we're in danger if we go in there?”

“No, I'm telling you that several of the storage rooms if not opened properly will incinerate the contents before you have a chance to get the door all the way open. And improper opening includes explosives on the door, which we understand General Bridgeman is quite fond of using to solve a number of problems he encounters.”

Talbot looked down at the envelope again. He went to reach for it but then pulled his hand back.

“What's the catch?” He asked her.

“No catch, just a request,” May said.

“I'm not helping you spy on General Fallon,” Talbot said. “I've known Don for 15 years. He's never even abused his damn expense account. The man's not a spy for anyone.”

“Maybe not by choice. We've been considering the possibility that he could be getting blackmailed,” May said.

“How? With what?”

“That part we don't know,” May said. “You said you've known him for 15 years...”

“I'm not telling you anything,” Talbot said.

“But there's something?” May asked.

“I didn't say that.”

“Fine.”

May reached across the desk for the envelope. Talbot lay a hand across the top of it. He grit his teeth and and picked up a letter opener, only to put it back down. He pushed the envelope back across the desk.

“No.” He rubbed at the scar on his chin and then shook his head.

“We have an Agent with a credible source,” May said. “We aren't looking to go in guns blazing, we just want to verify before we proceed with anything further.”

“Then if you have evidence show me,” Talbot said. “If he's a spy, friend or not, I want him prosecuted. But I'm not risking his career because somebody might have been trying to get out of trouble by telling one of your agents a good story.”

May sat back in her seat and looked at Talbot.

“I'm actually impressed,” she said.

“Why is that?” he asked.

"I had you figured for the kind of ass who'd do anything to further his career," she said.

He smirked.

"Sorry to disappoint," Talbot told her.

May leaned forward and pushed the envelope back to him.

"Keep it," she said." Coulson wanted you to have it no matter what you decided. He'd rather deal with you than risk someone new running things."

"No strings?"

"No strings."

Talbot pulled a pair of glasses out of his jacket and then slit the security tape with the letter opener. May watched him leaf through the first few pages. He leaned forward and spread a few of the pages out across his desk. She smiled as he tried to process what he was seeing.

“This is a tunnel in to the Kennedy Center,” Talbot said. He jabbed a finger at one page. “And this one comes out at the Lincoln Memorial and then this one goes all the way to the Library of Congress.” He looked up at May.

“That's right.”

“Is this a joke?”

“No joke.”

“Why the Hell didn't you just dig a couple to the Capitol and the damn White House?”

“Those were proposed from what I'm told,” May said. “But they scrapped both ideas because of how it might have looked if they were discovered.”

“Jesus Christ,” Talbot said. He took off his glasses and rubbed his face. “I...” he floundered for words and gave up.

May tossed one of the business cards on his desk.

“If you have any questions or need any clarification on anything in that file, you can call the number on there,” she told him. “The phone was set up specifically for you to use to contact us without, hopefully, drawing any suspicion from anyone.”

Talbot scooped up everything, including the card, and shoved it back into the envelope. He'd just stashed it inside his safe when Phillips' laughter drew their attention back to the door. There were three short quick knocks and then the door swung open. Phillips looked right at May.

“Great! You're still here,” he said.

“She was just leaving,” Talbot said.

“Do you two have dinner plans?” Phillips asked.

“No, we...” Talbot was cut off.

“Great! We've got room for two,” Phillips said. May tried to stop him.

“When he said no, he meant...”

“I just got off the phone with Sue,” Phillips said. “We've got the monthly dinner thing tonight with Detweiler, Fallon, and Cooper but Detweiler canceled. He said Jill's sick again.” Phillips turned to May when he spoke next. He made a motion as if he were knocking a few drinks back. “You know THAT kind of sick.”

“Did you say Fallon? General Fallon?” May asked.

Talbot went bug eyed and the veins on the side of his temples popped. He looked at May and vigorously shook his head no. Phillips had his attention turned completely to May.

“Yeah, we do this thing once a month,” Phillips said. “Glenn has been refusing to join in since he and Carla...well, anyway Sue never had a chance to change the reservation this afternoon so we have two spots. It works out perfect.”

It took three steps for Talbot to put himself between May and Phillips.

“No,” he said to Phillips.

“Oh please, time to stop being Mr. Anti Social,” Phillips told him.

May snaked an arm around Talbot's, laughed at Phillips' comment and gave him a good natured smack on the arm.

“We'd LOVE to join you all,” she said.

Talbot was still shaking his head. Which Phillips completely ignored.

“Great! Seven o'clock at Medway's, it's our usual place,” Phillips said. “I hope a steak house is alright. You aren't a vegetarian are you? I mean they have salads but I don't know if they make them in a different area than they prep the meat.”

“I love a good steak, it sounds great,” May said.

“ _A stake to the heart right now would be great_ ,” Talbot mumbled.

May dug her fingernails in to his arm. Talbot winced.

“See you then,” Phillips said. He stopped halfway out the door and wagged a finger at Talbot. “And he and Fallon have a habit of leaving work and going right to Medway's, so you now have the job of making sure he actually goes home and changes. Bunny's gotten pretty good at reigning in Don.”

And with that, Phillips backed out the door and closed it.

“Bunny?” May asked. “A grown woman actually goes by Bunny?”

“It's easier to pronounce then her real name,” Talbot said. He was staring at the closed door. “Wait, no, this isn't happening.” He disentangled his arm from May. “Not happening.”

May held up a finger and started dialing her cell phone. She walked across Talbot's office and stared at the pictures on his wall.

“This is Morse,” Agent Bobbi Morse answered her phone.

“It's May, are you and Hunter still in Virginia?” she asked.

“We just got back to the airport, why?” Morse asked.

“I need you to check in with Director Coulson and let him know we have an opportunity to bug General Fallon's house,” she said. “You've got until 7 tonight to get the equipment and get here. He and his wife will be out of the house at a dinner for a few hours, so you won't have much time.”

“We'll meet you at their house then, or are we picking you up?”

“Neither, I'll be at the dinner.”

“How'd you manage that?”

She looked at Talbot, who now paced his office with his hands on top of his head. He still shook his head no.

“It's a long story,” May said. “But this way I can give you a head's up if they leave early. And find out the limit on this credit card they gave me, I'm going to need to spring for dinner I think.”

“Sure thing, we'll check in once we have plans set,” Morse said.

May ended the call and turned back to Talbot. He stopped and point at the safe.

“You said no strings,” he said. “I'm not helping you spy on him.”

“You're not helping us,” May told him. “We're helping you and it just happens to coincide with something we need to do.”

“How exactly do you figure that?”

“We bug his house and we can either prove or disprove our Agent's source,” she said. “You're not involved in that. If we don't find anything, we clean up after ourselves and move on. If we do find something we can come to you with it and work with you to bring him down by the book.”

“And how does that help me exactly?”

“You get dinner out with friends who get to finally meet your mystery girlfriend,” May says. “Which proves you have one and Phillips' wife stops trying to fix you up. And then going forward when you and your girlfriend get invited out, she's always going to be conveniently out of town. Then when you're ready to date, well with all the travel and career concentration on both of your parts it just didn't work out and you've both moved on.”

He stared up at the ceiling. He began to shake his head no.

“I don't think...” She cut him off.

“S.H.I.E.L.D covers dinner. And booze.”

“Make it a lot of booze and you have a deal.”

“Dinner and lots of booze. Deal.”


	2. Chapter 2

The lobby of the Doubletree Hotel was crowded with a group of men in suits wearing stick on name tags as Agent May made her way toward the front door. She had her cell phone against her ear and instinctively scanned the lobby as she moved. There were a few appreciative stares from some of the conventioneers, but she was otherwise ignored.

“Where are we at?” she asked Agent Bobbi Morse.

“We're half a mile down the road,” Morse replied. “The General and his wife left about 10 minutes ago and Hunter just finished running a drone around the house. There's no one else in there right now.”

“Get in there and get out as fast as you can,” May told her. “I'm not sure how long these dinners last. The only goal for the night is getting the surveillance pieces in place.”

“Coulson wasn't exactly thrilled with this idea,” Morse said. “He's still worried about it coming back on S.H.I.E.L.D. But he also said he trusted your judgment and to contact him if anything unusual pops up tonight.”

“With any luck we won’t need to keep the house under surveillance for more than a month,” May said. “If we get what we need then we can get a team in next month when they go out and clean things out. How long do you think it will take you to get through the house?”

“I want to be in and out in under an hour if we can,” Morse said. “Skye hacked the builder’s system and pulled blueprints for all the houses in this subdivision. We were able to figure out Fallon’s house based on the exterior, so we planned a route through the house that should be pretty efficient.”

“Sounds good,” May said. “If something comes up, call or text this number. As far as everyone at dinner will know I've got a company I'm trying to get off the ground, so I might have emergency phone calls. I've got to go; Talbot should be here any minute.”

“Talbot? General Talbot?” Morse asked. “How does he figure in to this?”

May sighed.

“I'm...his date,” she said.

There was a pause before Bobbi spoke.

“You're going on a date? With General Talbot?” she asked.

May could hear Hunter's voice in the background.

“What!? Has she suffered a head trauma? I know there's the whole taking one for the team thing, but that seems a bit extreme....What!?...”

Something covered the phone and muffled Bobbi's voice. It only lasted a few seconds.

“What happened?” Morse asked her. “He's been pretty adamant about not helping with Fallon and now he's suddenly willing to keep them occupied for a few hours, that doesn't make any sense. Are you sure he isn't up to something?”

May went back through the events from her visit to Talbot's office. She paced the front sidewalk while Morse and Hunter laughed. Once they'd collected themselves, Hunter spoke.

“I would have paid money to see his face while all that was going on.”

“I'm glad someone finds this funny,” May said. “Just get in the house and get everything in place.”

She hung up the phone and stopped pacing. Minutes passed. She checked the time on her phone.

_The bastard bailed out on me. Son of a..._

A blue Lexus sped in off the street and came around the driveway to a stop near her. May could hear the faint pound of bass coming from the car before it was turned off. She didn't pay much attention to it aside from registering it was there; until Talbot climbed out of it. May expected he'd be the type to have a gigantic SUV. He stared up and the awning overhead for a second and then walked around to open the passenger door for her, which allowed her to see he'd changed. She'd never seen him in anything other than some form of his uniform. He looked uncomfortable.

“Let's get this over with,” he said as she got into the car.

“You should work on your greeting before you actually start dating,” May told him.

“I'll be sure to remember that,” Talbot said.

The speakers in the car blared to life with heavy metal. She looked down at the stereo and caught a glimpse of the SiriusXM station identification “Octane” before Talbot hit another preset and changed it to CNN. He stared straight ahead and didn't say a word.

“Ozzy's Boneyard is better in my opinion,” May said.

He waved a hand at the preset buttons.

“That's number four.”

Even in the low light, she could see his face flushed. He shook his head and pulled out into traffic. May turned the radio down.

“This is fine,” she said. “We need to cover a few things before we get there anyway. The first of which is how we met, since that's most likely one of the first things someone will ask.”

“Senator Bailey,” Talbot said.

“What?”

“We met in Senator Bailey's office two months ago.”

May turned in her seat to get a better look at Talbot. He was still staring straight ahead.

“You actually put some thought in to this today?” she said. “I'm surprised.”

“I didn't have any choice,” he replied. “About 15 minutes after you left Sam came back by my office and asked how we met. I'm sure that was only because Sue called him back and asked.”

“What exactly did you tell him?”

“Bailey's secretary has a habit of double booking appointments for him,” he said. “Despite software that's supposed to prevent it, she seems to manage to over ride that somehow. I told him we were booked for the same appointment time and Bailey was running late like he always does in the morning, so we ended up sitting in his office talking until he got there.”

“That's all you said?”

“No, I....” He shrugged.

“What else did you say?”

“Look, everything I deal with is pretty straight forward. I don't do this cloak and dagger like you do everyday,” he said.

“Am I going to have to hurt you? Because I don't have a problem with doing that. What the Hell did you tell him?”

“When Bailey showed up I let you meet with him first and after my appointment you were still in the waiting room,” he said. “And then...you asked me if I wanted to have lunch with you.”

“So I waited around for you and, because I was so taken with our brief conversation, I just asked you out. Got it.” She rolled her eyes.

“I'm sorry, but if I'm completely bullshitting things about my personal life, then I'm making myself look good.”

May covered her mouth with a hand and looked out her window so he couldn't see her smile.

“Actually, as much as I hate to say it, it's a pretty good story,” she said. _Damn him_.

“So we're good now?” Talbot asked. “We can just get through dinner and be done with this?”

“You've only been married once right?” May asked.

“Before Carla I was engaged, but it wasn't going to work out,” he said. There was a beat of a pause and then, “I have no idea why I just told you that.”

His tone was matter of fact and he followed it up with a shrug. _Maybe that's a safer topic than his divorce_ , May thought.

“I'm sorry. What happened?” she asked.

At first it appeared he wasn't going to answer.

“She was still hung up on her ex and there was no way that would ever work out with him apparently. I decided I didn't want to be the guy she settled for.” He paused and chuckled. “I guess I still ended up doing that though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing.”

He white knuckle griped the steering wheel.

“You just have your son?”

“George, yes.” Talbot looked over at her for a second. He shifted in his seat. “What about you?”

“No kids and married once,” she said. “That was over quite awhile ago though. Sometimes things just don't work like you think they will.”

Talbot nod.

“Anything else?” Talbot asked.

“I've decided that I'm telling people my S.H.I.E.L.D. career ended a few months after everything with Hydra happened,” she said. “Other than that we should be covered.”

 

Medways Steak House sat on the edge of the East Potomac Golf Course with a view of the Gangplank Marina just across the Washington Channel. While she waited for Talbot to get a claim ticket from the valet she sent a quick text to Morse to let her know she'd arrived. A response came back as they walked in.

**Holding pattern. Fallon's son & frat buddies arrived to raid liquor cabinet. **

She cursed quietly. Not quietly enough because it drew Talbot's attention.

“Please don't tell me there's a problem,” he said.

“No problem, just a little delay.” She smiled. _I hope_.

The maitre d' drew Talbot's attention and then lead them back into a side room off the main dining area. May heard General Phillips before she saw him. His laughter carried out into the main dining area as they approached. Inside the room she saw the General at one end of a large square table near the fireplace. He sat next to a plump woman with bobbed sangria colored hair. The woman smiled and pat Phillips' arm. Once she had his attention she motioned downward with a finger. The General lowered his laughter to a more subdued level and draped an arm across the back of the woman's chair.

 _That must be Sue_ , May thought.

At the opposite end of the table, May recognized General Donald Fallon. He'd lost weight since the photo in his bio had been taken and had a little more gray in his hair. His phone rang and he excused himself from the table. She watched him move back into the corner of the room, where he turned his back. May had never seen a photo of his wife but assumed that the stick thin woman with the outdated graying blonde beehive must have been Bunny. Bunny had the unnatural tautness about her face that said she'd had a lot of plastic surgery done. Fallon's wife drained a glass of white wine and blankly surveyed the occupants of the only other table in the room. She'd looked at her cell phone twice before anyone at the table noticed Talbot and May's arrival.

“You're here!” Phillips's wife said.

She was the first up from her seat. She threw a hug around Talbot and giggled.

“Good to see you again Sue,” Talbot said.

He smiled and pat her on the back with one hand. Once Sue had released him she turned to May with her arms wide open.

 _A hugger. Wonderful_.

“It's so nice to finally meet you dear,” she said to May. She had a thick British accent and a hug that cracked May's back. “You don't know how happy I was when Sam called me and told me all about you! I just hope everything goes smoothly tonight and this isn't going to be too awkward.” 

“Meeting people for the first time is always a bit awkward but I'm not worried,” May said. She smiled. 

Sue looked at Talbot. 

“You didn't tell her?” she asked him. 

“Tell her what?” Talbot said. 

Phillips' wife looked at the two empty seats on the side of the table close to the fireplace. May watched the expression on Talbot's face go from mild confusion to completely ill. He pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Abby is still friends with Carla,” he said. 

“Who's Abby?” May asked. 

General Fallon's wife was the one to answer that. 

“That would be General Cooper's wife,” she said. Bunny Fallon flagged the waiter down. “I think we're going to need more alcohol here.” 

The waiter did a quick once over of the four drinks already on the table and then turned to May and Talbot. May sat in the chair Talbot had pulled out for her. 

“I'll have a glass of Merlot,” she said. 

“And for you sir?” the waiter asked. 

“Bourbon. Neat.” 

“Any brand preference?” 

Talbot looked directly at May. 

“A Bulleit,” he said. 

The waiter nod and stepped away. One of the occupants of the other table flagged him down. 

“I'm sure this will all be fine,” Sue said. 

Fallon came back to the table. 

“Everything alright?” his wife asked. 

“That was the Mrs. Pedersen,” he said. “She wanted me to know that she'd been out watering her lawn and saw Jeremy and some friends show up at the house again. I told her to send her husband over to run them off with our permission.” 

Talbot's eyes had widened as he swiveled in his seat and stared at May again. She managed a smile. He stopped the waiter as he left the other table. 

“Make mine a double please,” Talbot said. 

“Yes sir.” 

General Fallon took time to come over and formally introduce himself to May. Everyone got settled and the discussion turned to appetizers. When their waiter came back with drinks, Bunny Fallon ordered three different appetizers. Before the waiter could leave, General Cooper arrived with his wife. The two new arrivals were introduced to Melinda. May caught sight of Cooper giving Talbot a friendly punch in the arm. His wife Abby, barely touched May as she shook her hand and only briefly made eye contact. The words icy and bitch immediately popped in to Melinda's mind. As Mrs. Cooper moved around the table May noticed she angled her cell phone in May's direction and snapped a picture. May leaned towards Talbot and spoke barely above a whisper. 

“ _Cooper's wife just took a picture of me_ ,” she told him. 

“ _What? Are you worried she's Hydra too_?” Talbot whispered back. 

“ _No_ ,” May said. “ _But I'm pretty sure she's texting the picture to your ex right now_.” 

Talbot had his glass halfway to his lips and froze. May followed his gaze across the table. Abby had her attention turned to something in her lap. The waiter took their drink orders and then Mrs. Cooper brought her cell phone up from her lap and slipped it in to her purse. 

“I'm going to need another,” Talbot told the waiter. 

May glanced over and watched Talbot place his now empty glass back on the table. The waiter smiled and disappeared. 

The group went back to their menus. May took a moment to mentally tick through each piece of silverware on the table in front of her in an attempt to match it up to what she'd learned in the one etiquette class she'd been forced to take at the Academy. She knew it was a formal setting although the steak knife wasn't something she recalled being included in the setting at the Academy. Why a steak house would go through the trouble of using such an elaborate setting was beyond her. To May the only usefulness of a setting like this was that it increased the number of things on the table that could be used as a weapon in an emergency. 

“Did they redo the menu again?” Sue wasn't addressing anyone in particular. 

“Looks like it,” Bunny Fallon replied. “I think they finally cut some of the frou-frou nonsense they add last year. It's a steak house, they should stick to what they're good at.” 

“As long as they didn't cut my sweetbread and mushroom risotto,” Sue said. 

Most of the tables occupants groaned. 

“Please don't order that again,” Abby Cooper said. She grimaced. 

“It's an acquired taste to be sure,” Sue said. 

“Anyone who will eat that will eat anything,” General Fallon said. 

General Phillips chuckled, opened his mouth to say something, got a dirty look from his wife and clamped his mouth shut again. He went back to his menu. 

A server brought baskets of bread and butter for the table. He was followed by their waiter with drinks for the Coopers and Talbot's refill. 

“You getting your usual Glenn?” General Fallon asked Talbot. 

“I think I'm going with the steak and lobster thing this time,” Talbot said. “Try something new.” 

“Clearly,” Abby Cooper said. 

May looked across the table at the other woman. Mrs. Cooper stared directly at her. Talbot started to say something but May elbowed him. The other three men became extremely engrossed in something that must have been very tiny on their menus. All three menus went up in front of their faces. Sue drained half her wine glass and looked across the table at Bunny Fallon. When May cast an eye in Bunny's direction, she noticed the older woman toyed with her steak knife and glared icily at Abby. May reached for her own steak knife and found empty table. She looked down and noticed Talbot concealing her knife in his napkin. She leaned closer to him and whispered. 

“ _Please, there are at minimum 15 other things on this table I could use as a weapon if I wanted_ ,” she told him. 

May ignored the other woman's barb and went back to her menu. Talbot picked up his glass and start on that drink. Their waiter had been behind the Coopers the whole time. He stared at Mrs. Cooper with his lips pursed shut. The server looked like he knew he had missed something and was trying to puzzle it out by the behavior of those around the table. 

“I'll give you all a little more time to decide.” The waiter said before he and the server walked off whispering. 

The Generals Phillips and Fallon attempted to make small talk by bringing up sports. Cooper joined in by teasing Talbot for his love of the Indianapolis Colts which had prevented them all from having access to box seats for the Washington Redskins in the last season. Talbot just smiled and shrugged. Abby Cooper slipped her phone out of her purse and appeared to be texting. Their waiter reappeared long enough to slip an unordered Merlot and double bourbon on the table between Talbot and May and then moved on to the next table. Sue Phillips leaned over and addressed May. 

“I'm going to enlist your help,” she said. 

“In what exactly?” May asked. 

“Getting Glenn out of that damned apartment and into something more fitting,” she said. “I've got several condos in a new development I keep trying to show him and he won't budge. I can't imagine you enjoy spending any time in that cramped little apartment.” 

The conversation suddenly had Abby Cooper's attention. May could see that she had stopped texting and had tilted an ear in their direction while she looked at her menu. 

“Which is why we've usually just stayed at my hotel when I'm in town,” May told Sue. “It's just so much more convenient that way.” 

“Oh, I can imagine,” Sue said. “I used to love when Sam had a transfer and we lived in a nice hotel for a week or two while housing got sorted out. Room service ALL the time.” 

“And huge showers,” May add. 

Talbot choked on his drink. Sue Phillips started to giggle. Mrs. Cooper's face went pink and then she went back to her cell phone. None of the other men had caught the comment. May smirked at Talbot and raised her glass to him before she took a drink. 

“Are you looking for a place here in town?” Sue asked her. “Or were you holding off...” she glanced Talbot's way, “...and hoping someone's housing situation would change?” 

May downed a sizable portion of her wine while she thought through responses. General Phillips cleared his throat and drew his wife's attention. 

“Don't push things so fast,” he told her. 

She blushed and looked back at May. 

“I'm sorry,” she said, “I can't help it. I'm just so happy. You should still help me with getting him moved though. He really does need a better place.” She pulled out her cell phone. “We should exchange numbers.” 

“Well...” _Shit now what. Don't panic._

“Is everyone ready to order?” their waiter asked. 

_Thank God_. 

“Did you find your sweetbread dish?” May asked Sue. 

“Oh, I got off track and forgot to finish the menu,” she said. 

“Do you still have the sweetbread and mushroom risotto dear?” she asked the waiter. 

“Yes ma'am.” He leaned down, turned the menu a page and point. 

Sue placed her order and the waiter worked his way around the table. Nearly everyone else ordered steak. More drinks were ordered and conversations resumed. 

“Now, where were we?” Sue drummed her fingers on the table and took a sip of her wine. 

“You were going to exchange numbers,” Talbot said. 

May looked over at Talbot. He smiled and toasted her with his own glass. She leaned close to him and whispered. 

“ _Why_?” 

“ _Because I'm kind of an ass like that_ ,” Talbot said. He smiled again and took another drink. 

She turned her attention back to Sue Phillips and smiled. Reluctantly, May pulled out the new cell phone and exchanged numbers with the older woman. Once they were done, she pretended to notice something on her cell and excused herself with a comment about work. Out in the lobby, she sent another text to Morse asking for an update. The response was instant. 

** Neighbor busted the kids and ran them off. Proceeding as planned. Making great time. How's the DATE? Any chance you'll be using anything in particular that Jemma & Skye sent you?  **

“I'm going to kill them,” May said softly. 

“Kill who?” a voice asked. 

May starteled and spun around. She was face to face with Bunny Fallon, who was listing to one side as she stood. May waved her phone in the air. 

“A couple of my associates are goofing off instead of taking care of something they should be doing,” she told the woman. “Something that will just have to be addressed when I see them.” 

“You just can't get good help anymore.” 

The woman made a tsk noise and then continued on her way to the restrooms. May watched her walk and found herself wondering if she was more likely to break something due to being extremely thin or simply fall over from the alcohol. When she looked down at her phone there was another message from Bobbi. 

** Sorry about that, Hunter had my phone.  **

_Well that explains that_. May texted back. **How much longer?**

** I give it another half an hour & we're out.  **

** Just text when you're out.  **

Back at the table, Sue had taken May's seat and spoke to Talbot; who nodded and continued to drink. He was nearly through the second glass. May pulled the phone back out and sent another quick text to Morse. General Phillip's motioned for his wife to vacate May's seat.

** Change of plans. When you're done be ready for pick up at Medway's Steakhouse. We'll need a ride.  **

“So how did you and Glenn meet?” Abby Cooper asked. “WHEN did you meet exactly?” 

“ _Here we go_ ,” Talbot muttered. 

He knocked back the rest of the glass, held a finger up for the waiter and then held up his empty glass. Bunny Fallon, back at her seat, raised her empty as well. 

“It was a couple months ago,” May told her. “In Senator Bailey's office.” 

She related the story that Talbot had given her, which drew an “aww” from the other two wives. Abby Cooper smiled politely and then stared at May while she sipped her wine. 

“Were you ever married?” she asked. 

“Once.” 

“Oh really? What happened?” Abby turned her gaze to Talbot. “Did he get jealous and accuse you of cheating?” 

General Cooper clamped his eyes shut and sucked in a hiss. He wrapped an arm around his wife and whispered in her ear. Sue leaned across May and addressed Talbot quietly. 

“ _Give her the damn steak knife back dear_ ,” she told him. 

“ _Oh, I'm seriously thinking about it_ ,” Talbot replied. 

“ _I told you already_ ,” May whispered. “ _There are a lot of other things on this table I can use as a weapon_.” 

“ _I once used an oyster fork to stab a French diplomat in the thigh after he grabbed my knee under the table at a State dinner_ ,” Sue told her. 

“ _I used the stem of a broken wine glass as a makeshift knife against two...actually I probably shouldn't tell you that story_ ," May said. 

Sue Phillips giggled again. Their waiter, followed by two servers, returned with dinner. Talbot relinquished May's steak knife and the night progressed without any further snark from Abby Cooper. It helped that Bunny had monopolized Mrs. Cooper's attention with planning a party. May had much more wine than she intended and found she enjoyed talking to Sue, although she had a hard time recalling what they'd discussed shortly after they were done. She lost count of how many drinks Talbot had but by the time checks were delivered she noticed he held on to the table with both hands in order to stay upright. 

May texted Morse to be ready as she paid the bill. General Phillips helped keep Talbot upright as they walked out. Outside, the air had grown considerably colder. Both May and Sue shivered as soon as it hit them. Talbot and Phillips made attempts to pull off their jackets. Phillip's attempt was successful. He wrapped the jacket around his wife's shoulders. Talbot's resulted in him nearly falling over. Hunter stepped up from the SUV he leaned against and kept Talbot from hitting the ground. 

“What's he doing here?” Talbot asked May. 

“I knew we'd need a ride,” she told him. 

Morse sat behind the wheel of the SUV, which was running. Hunter helped Talbot towards the back seat. 

“This is Lance,” May told Phillips and his wife. “We work together.” 

“Oh how nice of you to come out so late,” Sue Phillips told Hunter. 

“Well, who would say no in a situation like this,” Hunter replied. “How's it going Glenn? Good to see you again.” He pat Talbot on the back and then looked into the SUV at Morse. “Honey you remember Melinda's BOYFRIEND right?” 

“Good to see you again,” Morse said. She smiled. “We have to do that night out thing again, I had so much fun with you guys.” 

“Wait a minute,” General Phillips said. “You've met her friends already but we're just meeting her?” 

Talbot lost words and simply shrugged. 

“Timing is everything,” May said. She tried to laugh while she gave Hunter and Morse dirty looks. Phillips laughed and slapped Talbot on the shoulder. Which required Hunter to catch him again. 

“You and me will have a talk Monday morning, mister,” Phillips said. 

“I hate you people.” Talbot managed to slur once Phillips and his wife had left. 

 

The small plane, piloted by a junior agent, touched down at The Playground late the next morning. May had fallen asleep as soon as she got seated in the plane and struggled to get up and move once the engines were off. Coulson was waiting in the hanger as they deplaned. He had his hands behind his back and smiled. Morse stopped and looked at him. He had his full attention on Agent May. Bobbi grabbed Hunter by the arm and walked him away. May sighed. 

“Could this wait until maybe a little later?” she asked. 

“Not really,” Coulson replied. He smiled again. 

“OK.” 

“So, two things,” he said. 

“Just two?” 

“Just two.” Coulson brought his hands from behind his back. In one hand he had a cell phone and in the other a piece of paper. He held up the paper. “First, is this really the bill for only two people, or did you buy dinner for the whole table? And second,” he held up the cell phone, “why did your mother call me first thing this morning and yell at me for not giving her a heads up that you were dating a General?” 

“Oh God.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> original note: I picked Henry as the name for Talbot's son since IMDB didn't list one for the season 2 episode 1 that Talbot's family appeared in. If anyone has any idea of what it should be I can edit and change it. Henry came from General Henry H Arnold who was the first commisioned five star general in the Air Force. I can picture Talbot being the kind of guy who would give his son a name that came from military/Air Force history.
> 
> edited note 2-8-15: According to the Marvel Cinematic Universe wiki, Talbot's son is named George, so I've changed his name. http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/George_Talbot


	3. Chapter 3

Four weeks. Four weeks of finding excuses to not have anything other than a cursory phone conversation with her mother and trying to politely limit texts linking to condos from Sue Phillips. Four weeks of Hunter asking if the General had called her for a second date and of Skye apologizing for telling Hunter. And four weeks of...

“Again, I am SO sorry,” Jemma Simmons said.

She walked at a brisk pace to keep up with May, who was on her way to a progress briefing in Coulson's office. The younger woman clutched a small tablet tightly against her chest as she walked and repeatedly apologized.

“It's fine Jemma,” May said. “It was a joke, I get it. There's no need to apologize.”

“Yes, I know you keep saying that,” Jemma said. “But I still feel badly about the whole thing. I just imagine how embarrassed you would have been if you'd opened that when someone was around. All I told Skye was to add what she thought necessary to the shopping list. I had no idea she would add THOSE.”

May stopped outside Coulson's closed office door and turned to the younger woman.

“I understand that particular addition was all Skye,” May told her. “You're off the hook. You can relax. Stop worrying about it, it's over and done. As far as Skye knows.” May smirked.

Jemma sighed in relief and loosened her death grip on the tablet. She smiled.

“Would sticking Skye with those four cadets have anything to do with a payback of some sort?” Jemma asked.

“Maybe,” May replied. “Don't say anything, or you'll really need to be paranoid.”

“Oh she won't hear a thing from me,” Jemma said.

She twisted two fingers in front of her lips and tossed the imaginary key over her shoulder before she walked away. May shook her head and turned her attention to Coulson's office door. She knocked twice and wait.

“Come in,” Coulson called out through the door.

Inside Coulson sat at a small conference table in one corner of his office. Skye was supposed to be at this meeting as well, but hadn't obviously hadn't arrived yet. May glanced down the hall and saw no sign of the younger agent. She left the door open behind her. Coulson stared at his phone and then looked up at May.

“Is everything alright?” May asked.

“Would you call your Mother so she stops calling me? Please?” he asked. “Seriously a couple minutes of time and all you have to do is say it was part of an investigation and not really a date. How does she even know anyway?”

“I have no idea,” May said. She slid in to a seat next to him. “If I ever find out who told her...”

“You could call and ask,” Coulson offered.

“So far she's called you more than she's called me,” May replied. _But not by much._ “Why don't you ask her next time.”

Coulson sighed.

“Do you have any idea how frustrating you two are?” he asked. He looked down at his phone again. “Skye's late. And she didn't answer an email earlier. I wanted a rough idea of her progress report after they went in and adjusted the cameras Friday. I don't like this, something's gone wrong. I should have just had them pull everything when they went in. We should have done more research on the discrepancies the cadets found in the floor plans.”

“Relax,” May said. “If something were wrong Skye would come to you. You know that. I'm sure she has a lot of data to go over, on top of continuing training with the cadets.”

“Why did you give her all four of them by the way?” Coulson asked.

“I thought Skye would be a good start for them and it gives her some training experience,” May said. “Stop drumming your fingers.”

Coulson looked down at his hand and stopped. He tucked both hands under his arms and leaned back in his chair.

Outside the office someone ran down the hall. May and Coulson both turned to the open office door. Skye's tennis shoes squeaked on the polished floor as she skid to a halt in the doorway. She was carrying a data pad and let out a heavy sigh as she closed the door behind her.

“We have a problem with the surveillance at General Fallon's house.” Skye announced as she slid in to the seat opposite May.

Coulson dropped his head and grimaced.

“They found the cameras ?” he asked.

“No, that's not the problem,” she said.

Coulson let out the breath he was holding.

“Then what happened?” May asked.

“The surveillance pieces we planted in that closet Friday night aren't working,” she replied.

“What do you mean by not working?” Coulson asked.

“I think there's something in there that's jamming them, something is preventing them from transmitting out,” Skye replied.

“You're sure it's not because the devices were found?” May asked.

“I'm sure,” Skye said. “If they'd been found there would have been a search of the rest of the house and the cameras still out in the office don't show any search activity. I mean, if you found surveillance equipment in one room, wouldn't you search the rest of the house?”

“So it was a wasted effort to rework the office cameras and get them into that extra closet?”

Coulson asked.

“Not a wasted effort,” Skye said. “We turned one camera to face that closet and the General is definitely going in there and not coming out for anywhere from half an hour to a couple hours. It wasn't a waste at all. He went in there three times between getting home Friday night and this afternoon.”

“Then what you're telling me is that we need to get a team in there for a prolonged period to examine everything,” Coulson said. “That's going to be very difficult Skye.”

She turned on the data pad and looked down at her notes.

“Maybe not as difficult as you think,” Skye replied. She looked at May. “But it would require involving General Talbot again.”

“Come up with a different plan,” May told her.

“What exactly did you have in mind?” Coulson asked.

May clenched her jaw and shot a disapproving look in Coulson's direction.

“Remember how I mentioned in the briefing last week that Mrs. Fallon loved to entertain?” Skye asked.

“You mentioned something about formal dinners and some charity events.” Coulson nodded.

“She's having a party Saturday afternoon,” Skye explained. “Kind of casual thing with lots of hors d'oeuvres and drinks. She's hired a catering company to handle it and everything. It's something to do with getting people to donate to some scholarship fund for girls in the Middle East to go to an all girls boarding school someplace.”

“And how does this involve General Talbot?” Coulson asked.

“He was invited to the party,” Skye said. “And his invitation does include a plus one.”

Skye and Coulson both turned to May.

“No,” May said. “This is a lot different than a dinner out that puts him no where near our activity. You'd be asking Talbot to get me into the house and then cover for me while I was missing. He's not going to go for that. And if I were to get caught that would be embarrassing enough for him that I doubt we'd ever get his help with anything again.”

“Crap,” Skye said. “I didn't think of anything coming back on Talbot. That wasn't actually my plan, but my way would have still messed up things for Talbot if we were caught I suppose.” She slumped.

“What was your plan then?” Coulson asked.

“I thought maybe we could get one or two of us in on the catering team,” Skye explained. “And then one of us could get in the office. May would be our look out and be able to tell if anyone was approaching the office. I thought a caterer or two wandering around with trays of empty glasses would look like someone on clean up duty.”

“It's a good idea,” Coulson told her. “But with our current capacity and less than a week, the only way a plan like that works is in the movies. We would need to get the catering company to cooperate and expect the existing crew to not ask a lot of questions.”

Something on the data pad caught May's eye. She reached out and turned the pad around. May point to where Skye had entered the words “Nimble Baron”

“Is this the catering company Bunny Fallon is using?” May asked. “Nimble Baron Catering?”

“Are you kidding me?” Coulson said. He spun the pad around to look at it himself.

“Yeah, how did you know that? Wait, that name means something to you two?” Skye asked.

Coulson got up from the table and pulled out his cell phone.

“I need to correct my previous statement Skye,” he said. “The only way your plan works in this time frame is in a movie OR if the catering company the people are using is a front for the FBI.”

“What!? Are you serious?” Skye asked.

“They only take jobs when there is something of interest at the location,” May said. “Which means something the Fallon's are doing is on the FBI radar.”

“Or maybe it's just someone they've invited,” Coulson said. “Either way we definitely need people in there now.”

“How do you all even know about them?” Skye asked.

May sighed.

“My Mother helped them set up the operation,” she said.

Skye's jaw dropped. Coulson pointed to his phone and then to May.

“I'm doing you this favor,” he told her. “But if I'm calling your mother, then you're getting in to that party with Talbot. Take everything Skye has to him and get him to cooperate. Skye, you and Fitz are on the catering staff. Get with him and bring him up to speed.”

“Why Fitz?” Skye asked.

“He's still young enough to pass for someone working his way through college for one,” Coulson explained. “And he might be able to help figure out what's in there jamming the signal once he's inside and can get a look at it. Or he may be able to find how to open that up and get into the sealed off section of the basement. He'll do fine.”

“If we're getting in through the catering staff, do we really need Talbot, or me for that matter?” May asked.

“Nice try,” Coulson said. “I want back up for Skye and Fitz, someone on our team with our best interest in mind and that would be you. And the only way you're getting in there is with Talbot.”

_Damn it._

“Fine.” May stood up. “Get me a laptop or a data pad with everything on it,” she said to Skye before she walked out.

 

 

The above ground remains of the Triskelion that hadn't collapsed during Hydra's coup were now gone. The carcass had been picked clean by the military and then demolished, leaving only the debris from the attack that still obscured the sub levels. When May arrived at the excavation site the sun was already beginning to lower over Virginia across the Potomac. She pulled in as several firetrucks were leaving the scene. A thin plume of gray smoke rose up over part of the island. May hung back and leaned against the SUV she'd checked out of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s now limited motor pool and waited for General Talbot and General Bridgeman to finish with their joint statement to the press—which mainly consisted of Talbot doing the talking and Bridgeman standing in the background looking like he'd swallowed something sour.

“Again, just to clarify General, these were planned detonations?” a reporter asked.

Talbot cleared his throat and smiled.

“These were controlled detonations of some munitions left in the base,” he told the reporters. “General Bridgeman's people were in complete control of the environment the entire time. There was no danger to the public at any point. I'm not sure how many more times today I can say that.”

“But normal protocol would be to advise the White House and the police,” another reporter said. “None of my sources have been able to confirm any sort of forewarning regarding any of the detonations.”

The smile the spread across Talbot's face made him look genuinely happy.

“I'll let General Bridgeman field that question,” Talbot said. “Communications, especially with law enforcement, is one of his duties here, so he'll be better able to let you know where that break down in communication occurred. Now, if you'll excuse me, it's been a long day.”

Talbot stepped aside and motioned for General Bridgeman. Bridgeman stepped forward and forced a smile around his grit teeth. May could see the wheels turning in his head as he stared at Talbot, who was already walking away.

“I'm investigating the communications break down that happened,” he said finally. “Once we've determined where the break down took place we'll take the appropriate measures to ensure they don't happen again. I have no further comments at this time. Thank you.”

Bridgeman turned sharply and walked away. The reporters dispersed in several directions and caused May to lose site of Talbot.

_Son of a bitch._

“Am I getting kidnapped again?” Talbot's voice asked.

She turned to her left and found him standing along the road near the SUV. He carried a messenger bag by the handle and slapped the hat of his utility uniform against the side of his leg. Talbot's eyes were bloodshot and had dark circles under them. He covered his mouth with his hat and yawned.

“Not today,” May told him.

She took a couple steps towards him and caught sight of General Bridgeman as he stalked towards Talbot. May felt her fists clench. Talbot noticed her reaction and glanced back over his shoulder. He closed his eyes and let out a stream of expletives as he shook his head. Talbot looked back at May.

“If I say please?”

May looked down to try and cover the smile that tried desperately to spread across her face. She cleared her throat and regained her composure. They both turned their attention back to Bridgeman.

“Talbot!” Bridgeman yelled.

He came to a halt a few steps from Talbot. The Army General had about four inches of height on Talbot and was trying to use it to his advantage. He glowered down and then wagged a finger at Talbot. For his part, Talbot simply stared up blankly, lips pursed, and sighed.

“What?” he said finally.

“Don't ever try to throw me under the bus like that again,” Bridgeman said.

“Then stop fucking up and making it so easy,” Talbot shot back.

This time May couldn't look away fast enough. The smile spread across her face and caught Bridgeman's attention. He flushed briefly and then tried to compensate by taking a giant step closer to Talbot. They were inches apart. Bridgeman must have expected Talbot to react to the bullying tactic and seemed at a loss when Talbot didn't flinch or take a retreat step back. May could see the muscles in Talbot's jaw tighten. He raised a hand up, fingers curled—but not in a fist. Bridgeman saw the hand come up and took the step backwards. Talbot raised his index finger.

“First,” Talbot said. “don't ever get in my face like that again.” He held up his middle finger. “Second, don't ever go behind my back and order people to do something I already said no too.” His ring finger went up. “Your own damn demolitions people told you that area was unstable. When the people trained to know that sort of thing tell you it's a bad idea, it's probably actually a bad idea!” His pinky went up. “This is Washington DC. If you're going to be using explosives, even on a military project, there's a shit long list of people you have to notify before you even start trucking anything in.”

Talbot finished, spun on a heel and walked away. Bridgeman opened his mouth as Talbot began to move and shut it when he realized he'd be talking to the back of Talbot's head. May hit the unlock button on her key fob as Talbot moved up the passenger side of the SUV. She stared at Bridgeman while he continued to stand on the side of the road. He happened to look in May's direction, went pink faced again and then stormed off.

“I'm guessing you need a ride somewhere?” May asked.

She slipped her seat belt on and glanced over at Talbot. The General leaned against the headrest and tried to cover another yawn. He pointed out across the road where an Airman had just climbed out of a four door sedan emblazoned with the Air Force logo on the doors. The kid glanced around nervously.

“Actually that's my ride,” he said. “I just didn't want to stand there and give Bridgeman a chance to open his mouth again. I suppose since there has to be a reason for you to be here, if you wouldn't mind...”

“It's fine,” May said.

She pulled closer to the Airman and lowered her window. Talbot leaned towards her slightly and called out the window.

“Airman,” he said.

The younger man immediately snapped a salute, which Talbot returned.

“Yes sir?” the Airman asked.

“Sorry you had to drive all the way out here, but you can head back to the base,” Talbot said. “I'm good here.”

“Yes sir.” The Airman stepped back away from the SUV.

May maneuvered towards the main road. She thread her way through traffic in the direction of a local coffee shop she remembered.

“So why are you here?” Talbot asked. He'd leaned back against the headrest again and had his eyes closed.

“We need your help with something,” May told him.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see him shaking his head.

“The last time I helped you people with anything I spent most of Saturday curled up on the bathroom floor being really happy tile could be that cold,” Talbot said.

“Your fault.” May stated.

“Technically, I believe you buying all that booze constitutes enabling, so it's not entirely my fault,” Talbot shot back. They both laughed. Talbot glanced back at the laptop in the back seat. The smile on his face fade. “You found something.” he said.

“Something.” May nodded.

Talbot nodded and stared out the passenger side window in silence the rest of the ride. He didn't question why she'd pulled into the coffee shop's parking lot once they were there; he simply climbed out and waited for May at the door while she retrieved the laptop from the backseat.

Most of those coming in for coffee turned around and left once they'd received their orders. Those staying seemed to gravitate to the front along the large window panes, to sit in the last rays of the day. That made it easy to snag an empty table in the back corner. The two instinctively went for the chair that would put the corner at their back. Talbot took a step back and motioned for May to take the seat. He sat down across from her and stared down at his coffee. With a menu full of coffee concoctions, Talbot had gone with plain black coffee; which he add a little sugar to and that was it. May had gone with a black tea from their limited non coffee menu and add a small amount of sugar after trying it plain. She turned on the laptop and took another sip of her tea. Talbot glanced around the room before he spoke.

“What exactly did you find?” he asked.

“Initially, a lot of nothing,” May said. “And for us, all that nothing was a big red flag.”

“When it seems too good to be true it usually is.” Talbot said.

“Exactly,” May replied. “We discovered that part of the basement was blocked off and there's no apparent access from anywhere else in the basement. Up in the home office there was a second closet that was built and that's right over the missing part of the basement.”

“So you found a secret entrance?” Talbot asked.

“The team that went in there couldn't find anything inside that opened or moved,” May said. “It appears to be just a closet that General Fallon keeps a lot of golf equipment in.” Talbot narrowed his eyes. “What?” May asked.

“Don hates golf,” he replied. He shook his head. “How much equipment is in there?”

“A lot for someone who hates golf,” May said.

“Are you sure they didn't just opt for a smaller basement and extra closet space?” Talbot asked.

“We thought of that,” May said. “One of our agents hacked the builder's system and was able to pull up the original contract. It included a full basement. The changes to the house were made after the house was built. Sometime between when the initial construction was completed and a year later when they had the basement finished.”

“How did you figure that out?”

“The files from company that finished the basement included the measurements they took and those match what we've found going in there,” she told him. Talbot stared down at his coffee again. May took the opportunity to start pulling up the files from the surveillance. “When our team went in Friday night they took out all of the surveillance except what was in the office and they re-positioned the cameras on that closet. They also added cameras in the closet but something is jamming those. Which is why we need to get back in the house. We have footage of Fallon going in and not coming back out for anywhere from half an hour to a few hours.”

May began to turn the laptop so that Talbot could watch the footage Skye had put together. Talbot stopped her and closed the laptop.

“What do you need me to do?” He asked.

“You don't want to see what we have?” May asked. Talbot shook his head. She leaned back in her seat. “What happened?” she asked him.

“Something has been bugging me for awhile and I had a hard time putting my finger on it until after the dinner last month,” he said.

He took a sip of his coffee and picked at flaw in the table top. His head dropped enough so that he could easily run a hand over his short hair. May wrapped her hands around her tea.

“Something that happened before the dinner?” she asked.

He nodded and went to speak but stopped and shook his head.

_Please don't let this turn in to something embarrassing about his personal life._

“I have a couple questions about that whole thing with the painting in Miami,” he said finally.

“Like what?”

“The guy who...” he waved a hand at his face, “who had my face. How exactly did they do that? How do they get something that good that nobody on your team thought for a minute it wasn't me? I mean come on, a fucking painting?”

“It's called a photostatic veil,” May told him. “We've had them for a few years. Normally they're a way to use someone who wouldn't normally cooperate with us. In a few cases we've replaced someone in danger with an agent.”

“How does it work?”

“The veil has to be held over the subject's face and it scans the face,” she told him.

“So if you have a subject who's already uncooperative, how do you get them to cooperate with a scan?” he asked.

“You don't,” she said. “In my case they knocked me out. In past cases people were drugged.”

Talbot winced. He rubbed his hand across his forehead.

“I was kind of afraid you were going to say that,” he said. 

“You think you were drugged?”

He nodded and balled his hands into fists. He ended up gritting his teeth together so tightly, May worried he'd crack a tooth. It took him a few seconds to relax.

“It would have been a couple days before Miami,” Talbot said finally. “Don came down to my office right after I got in and wanted to get a few of us together to go out for drinks after work. I didn't want to. I know what they're all trying to do but I hate when people treat me like I can't get my own shit together. He kept insisting I needed to start getting out and I kept saying no. I don't know how many times he came by my office, but by the end of the day...I would say, looking back, he was almost in panic mode about getting me to go out.”

“So you gave in?”

“Yeah,” he said. “He claimed he and Bunny were arguing because of all the problems they've been having with Jeremy and he just didn't feel like going home. So I caved. Then he claimed no one else could make it when we left work.” Talbot took a drink. “I think what's been bugging me is that I only remember two drinks. And they weren't doubles. The next thing I remember, it's morning and I'm waking up on the couch in their living room with Bunny standing there asking me if she needs to call in and let them know I won't be going in.”

“Did she give you any explanation about what happened?”

“She said Don called her and asked her to pick us up because we'd had too much to drink,” Talbot said.

“Is it possible you two just ended up drinking too much?” May asked.

“Sure, it's not like we haven't done it before,” Talbot said. “But now, after dinner last month and how long it took me to recover compared to how well I recovered after that night, I really doubt it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I really didn't feel horrible after I woke up,” Talbot told her. “Kind of groggy and that was it. I asked Bunny to give me a lift so I could get my car and then I went home. I ended up just going in a couple hours late. I was a little off for part of the day, but no headache or anything. I remember feeling pretty impressed with myself for still being able to recover like that. And then dinner last month...” He shook his head.

“You didn't recover so well?”

“Not even remotely close,” he said. “I remember four drinks for sure and I know I had more after that. I know they were doubles. I know I sat in the back of that SUV and told you that I hated you and I remember Lance asking me where I wanted my car parked. Then I get bits and pieces the rest of the night of being in my apartment. And then feeling like shit all of Saturday and most of Sunday. I find it hard to believe I had less alcohol and a worse hangover after the dinner. But before that I got black out drunk and felt pretty decent the next day? It doesn't add up.”

“We'd wondered how they might have been able to pull that off,” May said. “This makes a lot of sense. They probably drugged you, got you back to the house, made the scan and then let you sleep it off. You really wouldn't have ever had any reason to question it if we hadn't come to you with our suspicions about him.”

“I need to know,” Talbot said. He sat back in his chair and shrugged. “So what do you need me to do?”

“We need you to RSVP for the party the Fallon's are throwing Saturday,” May told him. “We'll have two agents on the catering staff and they'll be doing the work. I just need to get in there as back up. And I'm going to tell you up front we know that something about the Fallon's or about this party is on the FBI's radar.”

“This just keeps getting better and better.” Talbot shook his head.

Talbot pulled his phone out and went through his contacts list. He turned the volume down as the phone rang.

“Hi Bunny, it's Glenn,” he said into the phone. “Actually I was just calling to make sure it wasn't to late to RSVP for Saturday....Yeah,” he looked across the table at May, “Melinda is in town, saw the invitation and asked if we were going, so I thought, you know, we could stop in....Great, we'll see you Saturday.”

“Thank you,” May said.

Talbot shrugged again and went back to his coffee.

 

 

May waited until she'd dropped Talbot off at the base before she called Coulson.

“Talbot's in,” she said as soon as he answered the phone.

“How'd you manage that so quickly?” Coulson asked. “I was expecting at least one call about him being difficult.”

“He has some unanswered questions about General Fallon,” May said. “I'll explain when I get back. Is everything finalized with getting Skye and Fitz on the catering team?”

“Your mother came through,” Coulson said. “The guy who's running that operation has lost a good friend to a Hydra attack and is more than happy to help. He wouldn't give her details but apparently doesn't think what we're doing will interfere with their operation. Oh and you can thank General Phillips's wife for telling your mother about your date.”

“What?”

“She knows your mother, although your mother wouldn't say how,” Coulson told her. “Apparently it didn't dawn on Mrs. Phillips who you were until after you'd left. She called your mother that night.”

“But you told her it wasn't a real date right?” There was silence. “Phil, please tell me you told her that.”

“Yeah, you know how your mother gets talking and you can't get a word in?” he said finally. “That happened. Oh and you should probably just stay there in town until after the party. We'll be fine here.”

“What. Happened.”

“Well it turns out that General Phillips will be out of town and now that your mother knows you'll be there, because when I was trying to explain how we were setting this up I mentioned that you were going with Talbot, and she wouldn't let me really get a word in after that and now she's going to be at the party with her old friend Sue. I have someone walking in to my office now. Gotta go. Bye.”

Coulson hung up on her. May threw her phone onto the passenger seat.

_This really is just getting better and better._

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this update took longer than planned. What was supposed to be one chapter has turned in to two and I've rewritten parts so many times it's crazy. And then I fell down the rabbit hole of fictional countries in the Marvel universe. Crazy!

Instead of staying in Washington DC, May had returned to the Playground to prep for the party; not just for herself but also for Skye and Fitz. She'd quickly forgiven Coulson for not straightening her mother out. Ultimately it was her responsibility no matter how much she dreaded it. There was also the fact that she didn't want to miss the look on Skye's face when Mack brought out Skye's van to her; although she wouldn't admit that if called out on it. Two struggling college students needed appropriate transportation Coulson had told them. He'd had Mack drop everything he was doing in order to make sure the vehicle was mechanically sound for the road trip it was about to embark on. Skye had hugged it and planted a kiss on the steering wheel as she climbed in. Then at the end of the day, May and Coulson stood at the edge of the hanger and waved goodbye. It had the surreal feel of sending the kids off to camp.

Once Skye and Fitz were gone, May no longer had an excuse to postpone getting herself ready for the party. She'd pushed it off as best as she could but as it drew closer to the end of the week there was no way she could avoid it any longer. May realized as she stood in the middle of the wardrobe department that for the first time in a long time she was nervous about a mission. More appropriately she was worried about what to wear on a mission.

“Seriously, this is what you've picked out?”

Bobbi's voice snapped May back to the moment. She turned and found Bobbi with her hands on her hips, in front of the three outfits May had so far managed to put together.

“What's wrong with those?” May asked.

“There aren't any dresses,” Bobbie replied. “Or heels.”

“I don't need heels,” May said. “I need to be practical.”

“Pants and flats are practical.” Bobbi agreed. “But it's a party. You should look like you're dressed for a party, not for a day at the office.”

“If Skye and Fitz need me, pants and flats give me more combat options,” May said.

“Like kicking someone in the head without showing off underwear?” Bobbi asked.

“Exactly,” May said.

Both women stared off into space and shook their heads.

“Skye and Fitz have the FBI as back up though,” Bobbi said finally. “You have plenty of non combat options for creating a distraction for them if the need arises.”

“I would still prefer to keep my options open,” May replied.

“You totally don't want Talbot to get a look at those legs do you?” Bobbi teased. May felt the back of her neck heat up. Bobbi's eyes went wide. “Oh we are so packing dresses for you.”

She grabbed May by the arm and steered her off to a corner of wardrobe. Nothing May said stopped her. May realized she really wasn't fighting her all that hard on the issue.

 

 

This time around the Doubletree wasn't packed with convention attendees when May checked in. No, this time it was packed with cheerleaders. Girls in varying stages of teenager all equally bored with the check in process. Most were glued to their cell phones and out of the way. A few were...overly peppy; and carried that on in the hall until well after midnight. It was probably a good thing Coulson had decided she didn't need a firearm on this mission.

By mid morning May had planned and replanned her outfit three times. She followed that up with trying on two of the outfits. She paced her room. Made two trips to a little tea shop next to the hotel and finally went for a run in the hotel's indoor track. A hour before Talbot was due to pick her up she was showered and waiting in one of the practical outfits she had picked out. She'd pulled the desk chair over to the window and was finishing her second cup of tea when her phone chirped a text alert. By the time she'd walked across the room to retrieve the phone from her purse it chimed again. The first text was from Sue Phillips. The second was from General Talbot. May looked at her reflection in the full length mirror.

“This isn't going to be good news,” she told herself.

She read Sue Phillips' text first:

**I wanted to give you a heads up dear. Just found out that General Cooper and his wife will be there.**

She read Talbot's:

**Sue just called me. Cooper and Abby will be there. Do you think that will be a problem?**

May looked back at her reflection again and gave herself a once over.

“Screw practical,” she said.

She went back to the garment bag hanging in the closet and pulled out the short party dress Bobbi had insisted she include. It was a sleeveless red number that didn't make it to her knees and cinched in at the waist. She traded out the black flats for red heels and switched to a small red and gold clutch that didn't hold nearly as much equipment as she wanted. Once she was ready she texted Sue and let her know it wouldn't be a problem. Then she texted Talbot.

**Shouldn't be a problem. If she acts up I can have one of my team spill something on her to get her to leave early.**

Seconds later a reply from Talbot:

**If I bring cash can I get one of them to make it a whole tray of something as soon as she walks in the door?**

**No.** May replied.  **How soon will you be here?**

**Outside now. Parked in the same place as last time.**

May tossed the cell phone into her clutch, double checked to make sure the earpiece she would need was in there and head for the lobby. Outside, Talbot leaned against the passenger side of his car while he looked over something on his cell phone. He happened to glance towards the door, didn't immediately realize that it was May that walked towards him and went back to his phone. Then he did a double take and stood up.

“Is this alright?” May asked.

“I...you...yep, good,” he managed. He pointed towards the passenger door while he concentrated on a spot at the top of her head. “I'm going to door....Get the door. For you. Now.”

He closed his eyes briefly and shook his head, then he turned around and opened the door. May managed to get the smile off her face before he could see it. Talbot did a commendable job of not looking at her at all while she climbed into the car. Once he was inside he stared straight out the front and then tried his best to make something akin to small talk.

“How is this going to work?” he asked. “You just mingle and if they need you someone will come get you?”

“I have an earpiece,” she explained. “I'll be in communication with our two agents the entire time.” Talbot's brow creased and he shifted in his seat. “Relax,” she told him. “no one can see it. I've done this hundreds of times. I know what I'm doing here.”

“If everything goes according to your plan, no one should know you're there working then?”

“Right.”

“And if it doesn't go as planned?”

“I create some sort of a distraction so they can bail out.”

Talbot shifted in his seat again.

“What kind of distraction?” he asked.

“Nothing that will embarrass you, don't worry,” she said. “Small kitchen fire works really well. In this instance we want something that creates a sense of emergency and danger. Something that draws people away from an area.”

“So no chance of getting you to beat up Abby Cooper then?” Talbot asked.

“Not in this dress,” she said. “You really don't like her do you?”

His reply was instantaneous.

“Not even a little.”

They both laughed. May felt a pang of guilt slam in to her. She'd planned on playing surprised to see her mother at the party. She knew her mother would play along and it meant she could avoid telling Talbot beforehand and having him balk at going. Faking a relationship around friends and people you only occasionally socialize with was one thing. When you began to throw family into the mix things tended to get more complicated. Now, as she thought about her mother, May regretted not coming clean with her. The disappointed “I see” she could hear in her head would have taken a lot less time to get over than the aftermath of this blowing up in her face in the middle of a party. Her mother was good at reading body language, all it would take is standing too far apart or Talbot stiffening up if May touched his arm and her mother would know. Talbot had turned out to be annoyingly human and decent when given the opportunity, which made it harder to look at this as just work.

“What's wrong?” Talbot asked.

“What?” May snapped out of her mental sidebar with herself.

“It looked like you went somewhere else there for a minute. I just wondered if something was wrong.” He said.

“I...Hell,” May said. She sighed. “I left something out. I was avoiding it but I can't prolong the inevitable forever.”

His grip on the steering wheel went white knuckled. He spoke slowly.

“You're going to spring this on me now because...?”

“Because you're occupied with driving and it seems safe to do it now?”

Talbot's eyebrow arched and he made a quick glance over at her. She smiled halfheartedly. He relaxed his grip on the wheel.

“This isn't related to your mission is it? Not some other bomb about Fallon?” He asked.

“No, not about the mission,” she said. “It's just going to come up at the party thanks to Sue Phillips.”

“Sue? What's she got to do with this?” He tensed up again. “Please don't tell me this has to do with those damn condos.”

“No, nothing like that,” May said. “It turns out Sue and my mother are old friends. I'm not exactly sure how, but considering that my mother recently retired from a very similar line of work to mine, that paints Mrs. Phillips in a whole new light for me.”

“Sam told me once that Sue used to work for MI6,” Talbot said.

“That makes sense then,” May replied.

“So Sue and your mother go way back,” Talbot said. He shrugged. “Are you worried Sue is going to...son of a bitch she told your mother!”

“Yep,” May said.

“She's not...expecting a visit or something is she?” He asked.

May smiled and laughed.

“Oh no, nothing like that,” she said. “We don't have to worry about that...since she's coming to the party with Sue.”

“OK...wait, what!?” The car swerved enough that May grabbed the oh shit bar over the passenger door. “She's going to be there? Today?” Talbot stared at her.

“Yes. Eyes on the road!”

He turned his attention back to the road ahead. They were silent for a moment.

“There's a small bridge between here and the Fallon's I can drive off,” Talbot said finally.

“How deep is the water?” she asked.

“Probably not deep enough.”

“I shouldn't have listened to Phil. I should have brought a gun,” May said.

“My service pistol in in a lock box in the trunk,” he offered.

“You brought your gun? Why?”

Talbot shrugged again.

“I kind of...felt like I should bring something,” he said.

“I suppose resorting to gun use might be over reacting,” May said.

“That depends. What are my odds with your mother?” Talbot asked.

“Oh you've got better odds than I do,” May said. “Career military officer. Already made General. You know Senators. I don't know, I'm sure she'll find other things to build up the pedestal when she talks to you.”

“It can't be that bad,” Talbot said.

“Let's see,” May said. “I was never the student she expected me to be. Didn't join the intelligence branch she thought I should. Didn't marry the guy she thought was perfect for me. Married a guy she didn't like at first and then when she was absolutely in love with having him for a son in law, the marriage was over. Oh and my agency has gone down like the Hindenburg. Plus I'm not either of my cousins, so she has to deal with my aunt gloating and having nothing to counter with.”

“I stand corrected.” Talbot said. His brow creased. “I'm guessing you two don't talk regularly then?”

“I try to avoid it as much as possible,” May replied. “It saves us both a lot of frustration.”

 

 

The Lerna Fields subdivision was situated on the edge of farmland and woods. Other than a few farmhouses, an electrical substation, and a gas station, there wasn't much else in the area yet. A field on the edge of the subdivision was partially full of neatly parked cars. May counted three uniformed security guards meandering through the cars. A kid in a red vest climbed out of a car that the dust hadn't even settled around and began a jog back in to the subdivision.

“Valet parking?” May asked. “They really go all out don't they.”

“This is Bunny going all out,” Talbot said. “Don just goes along with it.”

“They...Bunny throws a lot of parties doesn't she?”

“Yeah, quite a few,” Talbot said. “Fundraisers, charities, holidays...it's Friday. Anything to throw a party.”

“Hasn't anyone questioned how they can afford to have this many big parties?” May said.

“The money is hers,” Talbot replied. “Both her brothers died before their parents did so she inherited everything. Apparently it was a lot of money.”

“Old money? Family business?”

“Really old money,” he said. “Supposedly both her parents were very distantly related to a couple different royal families.”

They followed one of the streets of the subdivision as it curved along and came to a cul-de-sac at the end. There were two cars lined up near the Fallon's driveway. A valet motioned for Talbot to pull in behind the second car. As they parked the valet they'd seen leave the field came in to view and hopped into the first car. Talbot turned his keys over to a valet and followed May to the edge of the driveway. She slipped the earpiece into her ear while no one paid any attention to them.

“Ready?” May asked.

Talbot took a few steps up the driveway and stopped. He stared at the house while he shoved his hands in his pockets. May could see his jaw clench. She moved and put herself between the house and him. He glanced down at her and let out the breath he was holding.

“I've been avoiding him this whole week,” he said. “I was worried I'd say something. Or do something stupid. What if bringing me ends up being a bad idea?”

“We go in, make a point of saying hello to the Fallons, and then we mingle in any way we can that will keep us away from them,” May said. “You just have to be civil and get through that little bit; and just remember,” she reached out, adjusted the collar on his shirt, and smiled, “if you screw this up, I'll kick your ass.” Talbot let out a short huff of laughter, straightened up, and puffed out his chest. “What? You don't think I could take you down?”

“It'd be fun to have you tr...we should go in,” he said. He turned his attention towards the house and started to walk.

There were other couples beginning to work their way up the driveway. A group of men were clustered around the open three car garage at the top of the driveway. May caught sight of General Fallon at the head of the group, as he stood just inside the garage. Fallon noticed the two of them as they approached. He smiled and waved for them to come over. Talbot hadn't noticed, his attention had turned towards the walkway from the driveway up to the house. A couple had stopped on the walkway and the woman dug through her purse. Her companion had a military haircut not quite as short as Talbot's. When the man saw Talbot the two exchanged small nods.

“Get ready,” May said to Talbot.

“For what?” Talbot asked.

May snaked her arm around Talbot's and steered him towards the crowd in front of the garage. Fallon had already worked his way through the group and wait for them. To his credit, Talbot managed to not stiffen up and flashed a polite enough smile. May faked a smile of her own.

“You've got to see my new baby!” Fallon said. He clapped his hands and grinned.

Once they were close enough, Fallon moved to shake hands with Talbot—which Talbot did without hesitation. They exchanged swats on the arm. The Fallon leaned in and gave May a grief hug.

“It's nice to see you again General,” May said.

“Nope, nope, nope, here it's just Don,” Fallon replied.

“If you say so Don,” May said.

“Come here and look at this,” Fallon said. He shooed the crowd into parting. “I just picked it up from the dealer this morning.”

“Did you finally get Bunny to agree to a motorcycle?” Talbot asked.

“Not exactly, this is as close as I'm going to get and I can live with it,” Fallon said.

Sitting in the center spot of the garage was a shiny new Harley Davidson Tri Glide Ultra. The three wheeler was all black and chrome. A silver and black helmet sat on the seat.

“Very nice,” May said.

She kept Talbot moving; they worked their way around the trike and back to the edge of the crowd. A spot that made for an easy exit if Talbot had trouble keeping it together. A few of the crowd wandered off towards the front of the house.

“Do you like motorcycles?” Fallon asked May.

“Oh, I don't mind them,” she replied.

“You know Glenn used to have one,” Fallon said. “He had to sell it when George was born. I bet you could talk him in to another one.” He laughed. “We used to have a lot of fun riding around the Ramstein base. Right Glenn?”

Talbot had turned his attention back to the house. At the mention of his name he turned to face Fallon.

“Sorry what?” he said. May tightened her grip on Talbot's arm.

“I was telling Melinda here about our too brief motorcycle days,” Fallon said.

Talbot laughed and looked down at the ground.

“How many times did we get reprimanded for speeding?” He asked.

“Shhh,” Fallon said. He glanced around. “Don't mention that part around Bunny.”

The two men laughed again. Talbot tensed up and glanced back up at the house. Fallon's eyes narrowed. He stared at Talbot. May dug in to Talbot's arm who responded with a quick look between Fallon and May. She began to make a mental list of excuses for Talbot's distraction.

“I'm sorry,” Talbot said. He looked directly at Fallon. “Sue gave us a heads up earlier that Coop and Abby would be here and I guess I'm dreading running in to her more than I thought I would.” He didn't hesitate or stammer any part of his excuse. May relaxed her grip on his arm. Then exhaled the breath she realized she had been holding.

“I know, I know,” Fallon said. “I found out about it this morning. Bunny was just going to leave it go and keep an eye on Abby but I told her she needed to give you some warning. She wasn't sure and called Sue for advice. Because, you know, my opinion of things like that is...anyway, that's not the kind of thing you need to get blindsided with when you show up someplace. You know if I had known earlier this week I would have told you right? It's the least I could do. I mean, you've always had my back when I needed it.”

Someone called Fallon's name and he turned to wave.

“Yeah, I know,” Talbot said. He stared hard at Fallon. “I always have.” May dug in to his arm again. He turned his attention back to the house before Fallon could catch the look on Talbot's face.

“They aren't here yet by the way,” Fallon went on. “I called Coop this morning and we had a talk. He's promised no matter what, even if they just got here, if she acts up he'll drag her out. Please don't worry about it, just have a good time.”

Fallon gave Talbot another swat on the arm. Talbot smiled and looked back at some of the new arrivals on the driveway. Both Generals exchanged waves with them.

“Looks like you've got a few more people to show your new toy off to,” Talbot said. “We should probably go say hello to Bunny.”

“I'll see you around later,” Fallon said. “Good to see you again Melinda, glad you could make it.”

“It's good to see you too,” she replied.

Fallon stepped aside. He began to waive and call over the new arrivals. May guided Talbot towards the walkway and let go of his arm.

“Sorry, that could have gone better,” he told her.

“You did fine,” she replied. “A rough start but you recovered well. Just one more to get through and then try and focus on everyone but the Fallon.”

“Right,” Talbot said. “Like Abby Cooper. And your mother.”

“Thank you,” May said. “for that reminder. Is there anyone here you are won't mind seeing?”

“A bartender,” he shot back.

“It's not my fault this time if you spend all of tomorrow on your bathroom floor,” she said. “Hold on a minute.”

She stopped and looked around. No one else was currently on the walkway. May reached up and turned on her earpiece. Fitz's voice came through immediately.

“...and I wasn't staring at her butt,” he said.

“There's nothing wrong with it if you were,” Skye said. “I'm telling you she likes you. She made a point of asking if we were dating yesterday. You need to ask her out.”

“We're here,” May interrupted. “Bring me up to speed.”

“How long have you had your comm on?” Fitz asked.

Mortifying Fitz seemed counter productive.

“I just turned it on,” she said. “I got something about asking someone out.”

Talbot arched an eyebrow. May shook her head and shrugged.

“Oh good,” Fitz replied. “That was nothing by the way.”

“Hey,” Skye asked. “Coulson told us your mother would be here. Who's the guy she's with? That's not your Dad is it? A step dad?”

“My mother is coming with a friend of hers, not a guy why?” May asked.

“Thank God!” Both Skye and Fitz said.

“That woman was a nightmare,” Fitz add.

“What are you talking about?” May asked.

“There's an older Chinese couple here,” Skye said.

“There's no pleasing that woman,” Fitz said. “She's been stopping everyone with a food tray and holding them up to look over the food. Then she doesn't like anything and asks them to go get a different tray. She's hit me twice in the last five minutes. Why do people have to be so contrary?”

“So catering is out as a back up career?” May asked.

“Definitely,” Skye said.

“Back to my original question,” May said. “What's going on?”

“Fitz is on hors-d'oeuvres and I've got champagne duty,” Skye said. “We've both managed several passes on the office, which we were told was off limits along with the upstairs when we arrived earlier.”

“I did manage a scan down in the basement,” Fitz said. “Definitely no access to that hidden area from there. I checked their meter when we got here and they are using a lot of electricity. Their breaker box has a second line to it but I don't know where that goes yet. Bryce is looking in to a few things with the power company for me.”

“Who's Bryce?” May asked.

“FBI team leader,” Fitz replied.

“Got it,” May said.

“They have wifi but the only thing they have hooked up are two computers and two smartphones,” Skye continued. “They also have a very vanilla browser history. Seriously, there's not even porn in there and it looks like they haven't cleared their browser history in years. There is a faint T3 signal I picked up though, which is weird for a residential neighborhood and because it seems to be transferring seriously massive amounts of data. I'm trying to pinpoint where that is. It could be something from that electrical substation though.”

“I took a little break and did a walk around the house earlier,” Fitz said. “If there's any extra lines coming to the house anywhere they have them buried. Mrs. Fallon seems to like to hover over the catering staff so that makes things a bit tricky.”

“Although,” Skye add. “Since I've been steadily serving her champagne and guests have arrived she's much less interested in us. But that's it so far.”

“I'm leaving my comm on,” May said. “We're about to come in and greet Mrs. Fallon. That should occupy her for a bit. General Fallon is still occupied in the garage so you should have some free time to do a little more exploration.”

“Do the Fallons have a really good relationship?” Skye asked.

“I don't really know why?” May asked.

“They remind me of a couple I was fostered with for a few months,” she replied. “In front of people they seemed all lovey dovey and then when it's just them they're barely near each other. I caught that in the video footage but it's way more noticeable in person.”

“Interesting,” May said. “Keep me in the loop.”

“Mrs. Fallon just came back into the living room here,” Fitz said. “I'm heading for the kitchen.”

“Thanks,” May told him. She turned to Talbot.

“Everything going alright?” he asked.

“So far so good,” May said. “I need to keep Bunny busy for a little bit.” Talbot grimaced. “But you don't need to stay with me the whole time,” she add.

“How's that going to work?”

“We'll get in and say hello and make a little small talk,” May said. “When you feel like you need to bail you've got a couple options in this setting. If you see someone you feel like talking to, point them out and excuse yourself to go say hello. The other good option is to make sure none of the caterers have a drink tray near us, ask if I want a drink and then excuse yourself to get us drinks.”

“That's not so bad,” Talbot said.

They moved up to a small porch and found the front door propped open. Just inside the door a small booth was set up with brochures and pictures of Middle Eastern girls in front of what looked like a European castle. The girls all wore some variation of the same Western style school uniform with some of the girls completely Westernized and others in more traditional Middle Eastern wear—mainly in the form of hijabs. A couple who'd come in ahead of them leafed through a financial statement.

A few people mingled up and down the main hall of the house. A younger man with a buzz cut had parked himself on one of the bottom steps that lead up to the second floor and talked on his cell phone; he was someone else that Talbot exchanged nods with. The dining room held a string quartet and several couples clustered in groups inside. Across the hall the living room was nearly full. May and Talbot stepped into the room. The crowd spilled out onto a side patio through a set of open french doors and then out the back of the living room into another room. May noticed both areas seemed as equally packed as the living room.

“Hello there!” A voice called out.

May turned toward the sound of the voice and found Bunny Fallon in a group of people she could barely see through. May plastered a smile on her face and slipped an arm around Talbot's waist. He tensed up immediately.

_You're not here with Phil,_ she reminded herself. 

By the time Bunny had worked her way over, Talbot had relaxed and at least made an attempt at putting his arm around her. He'd settled for mid back and barely touched her. When Bunny moved in to give Talbot a hug May stepped off to the side.

“Hello Bunny,” Talbot said.

“Hello hon,” she replied. She stepped back and patted his arm. “Did Don show you his new toy?” She asked. And followed that up with an eye roll.

“Yes, he did,” he replied. “I'm surprised you gave in.”

“It's only a lease,” Bunny said. “If this goes like the convertible it'll be out of his system soon enough.” She turned to May. “Hello again, I'm glad you could make it.”

The older woman leaned in and gave May a hug. The smell of alcohol and musky perfume lingered after she stepped back.

“Thank you for letting us RSVP so late,” May said. “I hope it didn't cause any problems.”

Bunny waved one hand and snagged a glass of champagne from the tray Skye happened to carry by them. Skye stopped, smiled and held the tray out towards May and Talbot. Talbot took two glasses and hand one to May. He immediately had half of his gone.

“Oh, I always plan on more people,” Bunny said.

Skye walked away and seconds later her voice came through the comm.

“This might be fun if he keeps drinking like that,” she said.

“Who?” Fitz asked.

“Nevermind,” Skye said. “How's it going?”

“I think I figured out where the signal is coming from,” Fitz said. “I'm having Bryce check something out for me right now. If my hunch is correct what we've been looking for is right out there in plain sight. I'll let you know as soon as I do.”

Bunny waved to various people while she drank. She suddenly pat Talbot on the forearm and waved back towards the dining room.

“I almost forgot!” She said. “There's a full bar set up over in the dining room if you don't want champagne.” She glanced over May's shoulder. “Oh, excuse me, I see the Sellers from down the street. They're new in the neighborhood. I was hoping they'd stop by.”

“Don't let us keep you,” May said.

Bunny moved off towards the new arrivals.

“That went better,” Talbot said. “Right?”

“Better, yes,” May said. “But if we're a couple you're going to have to not seem uncomfortable when I'm touching something other than your arm.”

The minute she said it she closed her eyes.

“What did she just say?” Fitz's voice asked.

“You know that sounded dirty right?” Skye's voice asked. “Like, **really** dirty.”

“Yes, I'm aware of what I just said,” May said.

She opened her eyes and glanced over at Talbot. He had a smirk on his face that disappeared as soon as he noticed May was watching him. He began to say something and stopped himself.

“Nope,” he said finally and followed that up with a head shake. “We should probably wander around now.”

May noticed the Cooper's had arrived.

“Or we could get a talk with the Cooper's out of the way,” May said.

“Where did Bunny say the bar was?” Talbot asked.

“In the dining room, here I'll show you,” she said.

May steered Talbot back towards the archway that had led into the living room. They almost made it out of the room.

“Glenn!” a voice called out.

“So close,” Talbot said. He turned around and plastered a smile on his face. “Hey Coop!” The two men shook hands. “Did Don show you his new toy?”

“Oh yeah,” Cooper said. “We were stopped halfway up the driveway. Hello Melinda.” He shook May's hand.

“Nice to see you again General,” May replied.

Abby Cooper had her full attention on her husband. Cooper glanced between May and his wife. He nudged his wife and tilted his head towards May. Abby stiffened. She turned slowly to face Talbot and May.

“Hello Glenn, hello Melinda,” she said. A slight smile appeared briefly.

“Abby,” both May and Talbot said it at the same time.

“We were just headed to the bar,” Talbot said.

“There's a bar this time?” Cooper asked.

“In the dining room,” May said.

“I think I'm going to go get a drink,” Cooper said to his wife.

“I see Bunny,” Abby said. She snatched a glass of champagne from a tray carried by a young blonde woman. “I'm going to go say hello.”

The three made their way into the dining room. There were several people around the bar, which was in a far corner of the room. Fitz's voice came through her ear piece.

“OK, I've got something,” he said.

May touched Talbot's arm to get his attention. When he turned her way she tapped at her ear and stepped away. She pulled her cell phone out of her purse and held it up to her ear.

“Is everything alright?” Cooper asked somewhere behind her.

“It's a work thing,” Talbot said. “She's been trying to...get a problem fixed all week.”

May tuned everything out and concentrated on Fitz.

“What do you have?” she asked.

“OK, the Fallon's have a large electrical junction box out here in their backyard,” Fitz said.

“That's pretty normal here in the US Fitz,” Skye said.

“I know that,” he replied. “But this one is green. According to Bryce's contacts, the power company in this area uses white boxes. That T3 signal you picked up is coming from the box.”

“I'm on my way back to the kitchen,” Skye said.

“You need to be careful out there Fitz,” May said.

“I'm good,” he said. “I've got a plastic cup full of cigarette butts some of the smokers left by the back door. If anyone asks, I'm apologizing and telling them I'm picking up after my coworkers.”

“We need to get in that box,” Skye said.

“Already in,” Fitz said. “This is crazy!”

“Do you want me out there?” Skye asked.

“Stay in,” May said. “It's going to look odd with two of you out there. Keep an eye out for anyone who might get curious about the back yard.”

“Right,” Skye said. “So why is the box crazy?”

“Well this is where the T3 connection was set up for sure,” Fitz said. “It's connected back in to the house through a very small concrete tunnel. Not anywhere near big enough for a person. Luckily, more than enough for one of my little friends here to get in.”

“You brought D.W.A.R.F.'s?” May asked.

“No, not this time,” Fitz said. “I'm trying something new. These will crawl into the tunnel. I designed them to be like spiders basically. Once they're in they'll have some ability to access computers and they also have cameras. I'm really pleased with how they've turned out.”

“They're creepy,” Skye add.

“I don't care what they are if they can get in there and get us something,” May said.

“I'm a bit concerned about something though,” Fitz said.

“What?” May and Skye both said it.

“Well, there's the wiring going back in to the house and then it also heads out towards the general direction of the road,” he said. “But there are also lines going out in either direction.”

“What could that mean?” May asked.

“Um, well, there are a really high number of neighboring yards that have green electrical junction boxes,” Fitz said.

“Why do I suddenly feel like we're in way over our heads?” Skye asked.

“Seal that box up and get back in the house,” May said.

“Yeah, that sounds like a lovely plan that does,” he replied.

The sound of metal as it scraped on metal came through the comm.

“Before you get out of the kitchen get an update to Coulson,” May said.

“I can have him get the interns on researching this subdivision,” Skye said.

“Then when you're done get back out here on the floor and stay out here for awhile,” May said. “Make sure you're both noticed by either of the Fallon's.”

“Got it,” Skye said.

“I'm back inside. Safely.” Fitz said. He sighed.

“Keep me posted,” May said.

May hung up and turned around—right into a hug from Sue Phillips. She returned the hug.

“There you are!” Sue said. “We ran in to Bunny and she said you were already here.”

“It's good to see you again Sue,” May said.

Sue stepped back and cleared a path for Lian May. Instead of the quick polite hug she expected from her mother, the older May wrapped a warm tight hug around her.

“Hello Mother,” May said.

“Melinda,” her mother replied. She stepped back and looked around May. “Where is he?”

_Of course that's who she really wants to see,_ May thought. 

“Don't get smart with me,” her mother said.

_AND she can STILL do that._ May shook her head. 

“He's over at the bar with a friend of his,” May said. She turned and point to the bar—where Talbot and Cooper now no longer stood. “Or not.”

She scanned the crowd and found the two in the middle of the room with a third man. May gestured toward them. Sue immediately went over to the group. Which left May alone with her mother for the first time since the car ride out of Canada.

“I did a background check on him,” her mother announced.

“Please tell me you did not really do that!?” May said.

“Why wouldn't I?” her mother asked. “It doesn't matter how old you are, you're still my daughter.”

“It's not like you've ever bothered to do that before,” May replied. Her mother remained silent. “Have you done background checks on everyone I've dated?”

“If I knew about him I checked him out,” her mother replied. She shrugged and fussed with her hair.

May could hear the barely contained laughter of both Fitz and Skye through her comm. She sighed and looked over at Talbot. Sue laughed along with him and the others while she tried to tug him away from the group. He looked happy.

_He's actually not bad looking when he smiles like that,_ May thought.  _Damn it._

She sighed again and leaned closer to her mother.

“So...what did you find out?” She asked.

“Married once, one child. A son,” her mother said.

“I knew that part,” May said.

“He filed for the divorce first and doesn't have to pay alimony,” her mother add. “The only reason he doesn't have primary custody is because the dumb ass family court judge thinks a single parent in the military is at too much risk for getting called to war. Even when the child is considered old enough to choose where he wants to live and picked his father.”

“I didn't know that,” May said.

“No?” her mother glanced over at her.

“He doesn't like to talk about the divorce,” May added quickly.

Her mother nodded.

“Great credit, retirement and finances over all,” her mother add.

“Boring,” Skye's voice said through the comm. “Nothing juicy or scandalous?” May grimaced. “Sorry,” Skye apologized.

Out of the corner of her eye, May caught sight of Skye just inside the dining room. She smiled at May and went back to offering to take empty glasses from those around her. Fitz was briefly visible in the hall way with a try of hors-d'oeuvres. He disappeared into the living room.

“Anything else?” May asked.

Her mother smiled.

“He had a Presidential appointment to the Air Force Academy,” the elder May said. “His father and Ronald Reagan had known each other for years, so that's how he came by that. Not at the top of his class but a respectable overall effort. Played football and baseball all four years and did some boxing his last two years. He got in to some trouble his junior year for something that happened on Spring Break but it didn't go past a reprimand in his file. I'd imagine a retired Colonel Father who's friends with the current President helped him there. He had his pilot's license before he graduated and began his career as a test pilot. He was officially stationed out at Edwards Air Force base, but spent most of his time at the Nevada Test and Training Range.” Her mother stopped and glanced over at her.

“Is that unusual? Wait, are you saying he was stationed out in Area 51?” May asked.

“Maybe,” her mother replied.

“No way,” Skye's said through the comm.

“Cool,” Fitz add.

“What did he fly while he was there?” May asked.

“I have no idea,” her mother said. “I can't find anyone, even among **my** contacts, that will give me a straight answer on what he was flying. But whatever it was had a string of mechanical failures and had killed four pilots before he was ever out there. His crash came two years in to his career. From what I saw of the redacted report they were amazed he even survived. His injuries were severe enough the Air Force wanted to give him a medical discharge. He had to fight that to stay in. He's not cleared to pilot anything military anymore, but he has a civilian pilot's license as of five years ago that he keeps up.”

“I wonder if that's how he got that scar on his chin,” Skye said.

“Probably,” Fitz said, “and the thing with his thumb too.”

“What thing with his thumb?” Skye asked.

“I noticed when he was interviewing all of us at Providence base,” Fitz said. “He's missing part of his left thumb.”

May cleared her throat, which caused both Fitz and Skye to apologize again.

“After that he moved around between a few different programs for a few years and then ended up working on a program that the Air Force had with the Army,” her mother said. “He worked under General Ross. Did you know he was engaged to the General's daughter for several months?”

 _So that was the ex-fiance,_ May thought.

“Yes he mentioned her once,” May said. “Did you find anything out about the time he was held prisoner? He's...never talked about it.”

“That was a surveillance mission over Slorenia,” her mother said. “After the Soviet Union fell Bosnia wasn't the only country with ethnic cleansing going on. Bosnia just got all of the publicity for it. A UN mission used Air Force RC-135's over Slorenia for aerial photos of possible mass graves. They were hit with old Soviet anti aircraft guns and went down 10 miles from the Lithuanian border. The Lithuanian government was willing to aid the crew if they could make it to the border. Your boyfriend volunteered to stay behind with two other crewmen and destroy the papers and surveillance equipment on the aircraft so it didn't fall in to the wrong hands.”

“I would expect the commanding officer would stay behind and do that,” May said.

“Except he wasn't the commanding officer,” her mother told her. “He was second in command. By all accounts from the other crewmen the commanding officer had a melt down and then once he calmed down was more worried about getting himself out. I'd have to check but I believe he faced a disciplinary hearing after he got back. At any rate, the destruction of data and equipment succeeded and they were about four miles from the border themselves when they were captured. One of the crewmen that was captured died while they were being held. The General and the other crewman escaped five months later after the separatists that were holding them were over run by some rival group. Do you want all the gory details from the file?”

“I'll pass on that,” May said.

“I'm actually surprised he's stayed in the military this long,” her mother add.

“Why?” May asked.

“He wanted to be a pilot and had an interest in NASA,” she went on. “Getting moved into something you never really wanted to do usually doesn't work for people long term. I suppose it could be because of family tradition and at this point he's close enough to being able to retire with full benefits he might as well stick it out.”

“Or he could have come to enjoy the work he does,” May offered.

Her mother shook her head and grimaced.

“A couple of my contacts say he's bored,” she told May. “It's a lot more paperwork and getting stuck in his office or meetings than he cares for.”

“Interesting,” May said.

“I'd love to know who told him that looked good,” her mother said suddenly.

“What are you talking about?” May asked.

“That haircut and mustache,” her mother replied. “It's all wrong for him. I saw some of the file photos from when he was younger. He's very handsome. You should work on that...”

“Mother...”

“Although, if he's willing to completely change his appearance, he might be a bit of door mat and you don't need to have a man like that...”

“Mother...”

“You two should come to brunch with your Auntie and I tomorrow.”

“Mother...”

“And your cousin's wedding is only two months away,” her mother went on. “You still need to RSVP. And you should get him to wear his dress uniform for that. Show up that little Major of hers. You know,” her mother slipped on glasses she'd just pulled from her purse and did a once over of Talbot, “he does have a nice butt...” May stepped between her mother and her view of Talbot. “What!? I'm old, not dead.”

“We **are not** having this conversation,” May said.

“Please God can we not have this conversation,” Fitz said.

“Oh come on, this is fun,” Skye add. She laughed.

“It's depressing,” Fitz said.

“Why is it depressing?” Skye asked.

“Someone his age having a better butt than I ever will,” Fitz replied. “Why are we still talking about butts?”

“He is not **that** old,” May hissed into her comm.

“You have a nice butt Fitz,” Skye said.

“Really? You think so?” he said.

“Yep, I bet that's just one of the many reasons that blonde likes you,” Skye said.

“Can we get back on track here,” May said. She looked at her mother. “You know I have an open comm on don't you?”

Her mother smirked and fussed with her air again.

“I finally managed to drag him away!” Sue Phillips announced as she led Talbot back to May and her mother.

“Well,” her mother said, “are you going to introduce us?”

“Mother, this is...” she almost said 'Talbot', “Glenn. Glenn, this is my mother Lian May.”

“It's nice to finally meet you General,” Lian May said.

“Everyone here knows he's a General,” May whispered.

“I know. I can't help it, I just like saying it,” her mother whispered back.

“It's nice to meet you too Mrs...”

Her mother cut him off.

“Please, call me Lian,” she said.

Talbot smiled and nodded. Sue broke out a huge grin and patted at Talbot's arm.

“Well, it's nice to meet you Lian,” he said.

“I was just telling Melinda that you two should join my sister and I for brunch tomorrow,” Mrs. May said.

“What a wonderful idea!” Sue said.

There was a very definite deer in the headlights look on Talbot's face. He turned to May and arched an eyebrow.

“I'll have to check,” Talbot said. Sue and Mrs. May stared at him. “With...my nephew,” he continued. “He's coming in to town next week and was going to try and get here tomorrow morning if he could...”

“We promised to pick him up at the airport if he could,” May finished.

“Ah, well Melinda can text me later and let me know for sure,” her mother said. “I know how much you hate actually talking on the phone.”

May smiled. She looked around for a passing drink tray, realized she still had her champagne and took a large pull from the glass.

“Glenn!” A voice called out.

The group turned towards the sound of the voice. General Cooper was still in the center of the room and had been joined by two other men now. Cooper waved Talbot over.

“Excuse me,” Talbot said. “I'll be right back.”

“Take your time,” May's mother said. “We have all afternoon.”

“Great!” Talbot smiled. He looked at Melinda wide eyed and then quickly retreated.

“I'm going to go grab us gin and tonics,” Sue said.

Mrs. May touched the side of her head and closed her eyes briefly.

“Alright, but if this ends up like Brussels, I swear this time I'm really never speaking to you again,” her mother said. May looked at her mother. “Long story,” her mother told her.

“Do you want one dear?” Sue asked May. “Or can I get you a Merlot?”

“I'm good,” May replied. She held up her champagne glass.

Her mother waited for Sue to leave before she spoke again.

“You know,” she began, “it's awfully convenient that you happen to be dating someone who knows a person of interest to your agency.”

“I...,” May stopped herself. _She's figured this out already. She knows._

“You need to tell him you're here working,” she said. “You don't want him thinking you're using him. You aren't using him are you?” May felt herself shake her head. “Good. You still need to come clean with him though, as quickly as possible. You don't want to repeat my...”

Her mother's face saddened.

_So that's what this is about._

“I know,” May said. “He already knows we're here because of an investigation.” Her mother glanced sideways at her. “This all...we...were working with him on this...and things just...happened from there. It's fine, don't worry. He's fully aware of what's going on.” _Why the Hell did I just do that. I should just tell her. I should have taken Sue up on that glass of wine._

“As long as you're sure,” her mother said.

May looked over at her mother. She smiled at May and May nodded; and instantly regretted it. May opened her mouth and was cut off by Sue's return.

“Did your mother ever tell you about Brussels?” Sue asked.

“I've never heard anything about it,” May said. She smiled at her mother. “I can't wait to hear all about it though.”

“That's not going to happen,” her mother said flatly.

Mrs. May shot a look at Sue that May had only ever seen directed at herself. Sue simply launched into a fit of laughter. A fit that drained away along with the color in her face. May followed her gaze back towards the entry way to the dining room.

Abby Cooper stood in the doorway with another couple. The other woman looked vaguely familiar. May did a quick mental shuffle and tried to place the woman's face. And then it hit her. She was Talbot's ex wife.

“Oh fuck,” May said.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slorenia is a European country in the Marvel universe.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And once again the chapter is a lot longer than I expected and needed to be split. What I originally saw as four chapter is turning in to six.

Skye's voice came through May's comm.

“What's going on?” she asked.

May didn't answer, she was too occupied with Sue Phillips' reaction. The older woman had made a break for the new arrivals and stopped herself twice.

“I need to go find Bunny,” Sue said finally. “This is...this is unacceptable.”

“What exactly is going on?” May's mother asked.

“That's Glenn's ex wife,” Sue said.

Skye cursed in May's ear. There was an “uh-oh” from Fitz that followed.

“Who's that with her?” May asked.

“Oh HIM!?” Sue replied. “That's Carla's old college boyfriend. The one she was ONLY reconnecting with on facebook and had ABSOLUTELY no intention of ever seeing in person. Except for those two trips, that we know about, to Boston. Where he lives. Both of which occurred while Glenn happened to be out of town. But those were just coincidences, of course.”

Lian May launched into a stream of expletives in Chinese and took a step forward. May snagged her arm.

“I've got this,” May whispered to her mother. “You go with Sue and keep her calm.”

“Don't let him do anything stupid,” Sue said to May.

Abby Cooper stood in the wide entrance and happily pointed out Talbot, who had his back towards the entry, to his ex and her boyfriend. May headed for the bar and dug through her purse as she moved. She came up with a fifty dollar bill and folded it so the denomination was visible.

“Do we need to do anything?” Fitz asked.

“Hold your positions,” May said as she sidestepped the crowd at the bar and went behind the counter.

“I'm sorry ma'am, you can't...”

She flashed the bill at the young bartender.

“I need a double bourbon, neat and make it fast,” she told him.

He took the offered bill and fixed the drink. Skye's voice came through the comm as May made her way towards Talbot and his friends.

“Is it wrong that I want to spill a tray of drinks on her?” Skye asked.

“Is it wrong I want to help you?” Fitz added.

“Depending on how this goes that is not outside the realm of possibilities,” May said.

“I'm going to go get my tray filled back up,” Skye said.

General Cooper was the first of the group to notice Carla Talbot and her date. His expression went from panic to anger when he realized his wife was standing next to them. May watched as Abby caught sight of her husband. Mrs. Cooper sucked in her bottom lip and went pop-eyed. She retreated back out into the hall as quickly as she could move through the crowd. The other two men stared down at the floor. Talbot had picked up on the change of mood and turned around to see what Cooper was looking at. His ex and her date were now halfway across the room. The back of Talbot's neck turned red and the color worked it's way up his face. He clenched his fists and set his jaw.

“There you are!” May said. She stepped between Talbot and his ex with her back to the approaching couple. Talbot blinked and turned his full attention to May. “Here's your drink,” she add. “We thought you were coming right back.”

Talbot took the offered drink and downed half of it. He made a point of staying focused on May.

“Sorry about that,” he said. “We were talking and I kind of forgot.”

“My fault,” Cooper said. He tried to laugh. It came out as more of a cough.

May smiled and looked at the two other men before she turned back to Talbot.

“So who else do I need to meet here?” she asked.

“Hello,” a woman's voice said from behind her. “You must be Melinda.”

May turned around. Carla Talbot stood only a few feet from her, a fake toothy smile plastered on her face. Her date had fixed his attention on the floor and shoved his hands in his pockets. Carla gave May a once over and held out her hand. Talbot made introductions as May shook the other woman's hand politely.

“This is Carla. My ex wife,” he said. “And that's Ray.”

“Roy,” the other man corrected.

“Whatever,” Talbot shot back. He took another drink.

“Excuse me,” Cooper said. “I need to go drag my wife away from a party.”

The other two men took that as their cue to exit as well.

“Let's go check out Don's new ride,” one of them said. “Again.”

“Great idea,” the other added.

Fitz's voice came through the comm as the two left.

“My spiders are reporting back,” he said. “I'm headed back to the kitchen to check out the feeds. Let me know if you need me to do anything.”

“I've got this,” Skye said. “Just get back there.”

Over Carla's shoulder, May could see Skye hovering near the entryway with a tray packed full of champagne glasses.

“I'm glad we're finally getting a chance to meet,” Carla said. “I'm sure Glenn has told you all about what a horrible person I am. I hoped we'd get a chance to clear the air.”

“Actually he's never talked about you,” May said. “Other than mentioning he was divorced when we met.”

The fake smile dropped off the Carla Talbot's face as it went pink.

“Oh,” she said. Her shoulders had slumped and she looked around for a few seconds. Then she straightened back and smirked. “You know, it's a funny thing,” she said.

“What is?” May asked. She flashed her own fake smile.

“After Abby told me about you, I mentioned you to George and he said he'd never met you,” Carla said. “I've brought you up a few times since then and he still hasn't met you.”

Talbot went rigid.

“No, we haven't met yet,” May replied.

“All these months of dating and he still hasn't introduced you to his son,” Carla said. “I guess that should tell you what he really thinks of you. Hmm?”

She looked back and forth between May and Talbot. Her date straightened up and smiled.

“Oh that bitch!” Skye said.

Talbot clenched his free hand at his side. He drew in a breath and was just about to say speak. May beat him to the punch.

“Actually, that was my doing,” she said.

“You...really?” Carla said. Her eyebrows creased. She shook her head. “W-why is that?”

She had her full attention on May.

“I remember what it was like after my parents divorced,” May said. “There are so many things you're trying to deal with and process and then at the same time there's suddenly some total stranger shoved in to your life and they expect you to treat them like your new best friend. And then you spend all this energy you don't even really have wondering if this new person is why your parents broke up and why would one of your parents do that to the other one. I'd just hate for George to ever feel like he was forced in to something before he was ready. I mean, what kind of parent would want to put their own child through that? Right?”

“I so want to be you when I grow up,” Skye said.

Over the course of May's explanation, Roy had slowly turned his eyes downward and once again had his gaze firmly fixed at his feet. Carla went pink again. She cleared her throat and turned her attention to the ceiling. Talbot covered the wide grin on his face by raising his glass and took a sip of his drink. May smiled and slipped her arm around Talbot, under his jacket instead of over it this time. She pressed up against his side. Instead of tensing up like he had before, Talbot wrapped his arm around her waist. Carla went from pink to red and took Roy by the arm.

“Well, we were going to go check out the bar,” Carla said finally. “It was...nice...getting a chance to talk to you both.”

“Yeah, especially the end part of the conversation,” Talbot replied.

His ex's nostrils flared. She pushed Roy to get him moving and practically dragged him along as she cut through the crowd on her way to the bar. Fitz's voice came through the comm.

“Skye can you come here and look at this?” he asked.

“Good, because this tray is ridiculously heavy,” Skye said.

Skye moved from her spot near the doorway and disappeared down the hall. Fitz had done something with his comm and the kitchen noise came through making it hard for May to tell what he said as he talked to himself. It only took seconds for Skye to join him. The two mumbled and made comments that didn't help her get any sense of what was going on. She turned her attention back to Talbot's ex and made sure the other woman and her boyfriend had gone over to the bar. The two were occupied with another couple near the bar; which May hoped meant that they would have no reason to bother Talbot the rest of the time they were here. Talbot stared at them as well. She watched the muscles in his jaw tighten.

May realized that she'd been rubbing his back right at the moment he pulled her tighter against his side. Both of them froze. But then neither of them made any move to separate. Talbot looked down into her eyes.

_Why is the room warmer?_

In one fluid motion, he used the hand he had on her waist to pull her around so that they were pressed up against each other while he took the champagne glass from her and deposited both of their glasses onto the tray of a passing caterer.

_Definitely a lot warmer..._

He leaned down and kissed her. They wrapped their arms around each other. Things went fuzzy. She was vaguely aware that Fitz said something through the comm, but didn't have the faintest idea of what it was or why it mattered. She felt her back arch. And then as suddenly as it had happened it was over. They both stepped back from each other and looked around. Talbot's ex and date were still in conversation with the other couple. No one around them paid any attention to them.

“Did you hear what Fitz said?” Skye asked.

“Sorry, what was that?” May asked.

Her cell phone came back out of the purse. Talbot lead her away from the center of the room and over to a corner near a window.

“We've got a visual on the lair in the basement,” Fitz said.

“That is some seriously ancient computer equipment down there,” Skye add.

“How ancient are we talking?” May asked.

“Some of this stuff uses vacuum tubes and punched tapes!” Skye replied.

“Why would they have equipment that old?” May asked. “Wait, didn't Cap and Romanoff

find a lot of older computer equipment in the base he was first stationed at? Where they found...what was left of Zola. Could it be something like that?”

“Based on the more current equipment down there, it looks like they're updating files to more modern storage,” Skye said. “I see Blu Ray and thumb drives. They've got something I've never even seen before that seems to be helping convert the files.”

“We know what all that golf equipment is about too,” Fitz add. “They've got physical files and paperwork that they've brought in to the house in the golf bags and some of those golf club shafts are hollow. I can see one open with microfiche next to it. There's some boxes of golf balls that didn't actually have any golf balls in them.”

“I can't wait to get down there and get my hands on that stuff,” Skye said.

“Speaking of getting down there,” May said. “Can you see a way down?”

“Yes,” Fitz said. “The entire closet floor is an elevator. I still don't know how to access it from upstairs, but there's a small elevator control panel on the wall down there. I can get one of the spiders to hit the button for us.”

“We're going to get ready and get in the office in a few minutes,” Skye said.

“Do you have the portable hard drives?” May asked.

“I've got two,” Skye replied. “That won't get us everything I'm sure, but at least it will give us some idea of what they're doing and why these old files need to be updated to something more easily accessible.”

“What about that T3 line?” May asked.

“It looks like in addition to getting the files into something physical, they're also transferring the data out through the line,” Fitz said. “I can plant a few things while we're down there that should also send us any future transfers as well.”

“If Fitz can get that in place we should also be able to tell where they're sending the data,” Skye add.

“How are you going to stay in contact if something down there is blocking communications?” May asked.

“I'm pretty sure I have that figured out,” Fitz said. “I've got a spider tuned to our comm frequency and on its way back though the pipeline to that electrical box in the yard. We can relay through that to stay in contact.”

“Alright it's a go then,” May said. Talbot glanced over at her and then looked around the room. “But the first sign of any trouble...”

“We will let you know,” Skye said.

“And we'll let Bryce know too,” Fitz add.

“Why him?” May asked.

“They have a fake gas leak plan set up in case of trouble for their team,” Skye said. “He's willing to use it for us if we need to. Everyone gets evacuated whether they like it or not. And their fake gas company people can get in the house and do what needs to be done.”

“Just keep me posted,” May said. She slipped her cell phone back in her purse.

“Well?” Talbot asked.

“They've got a way in,” she told him. “It looks like he's updating old files to modern storage. There's no chance the Air Force would have him working on a project like this is there?”

Talbot shook his head.

“If they did, they wouldn't have him doing it at home,” he told her. “There aren't any circumstances where he'd have a set up like you're describing at home. Having it off base creates more chances for a security breach. Plus, if it's important enough information that someone might try to come and get it, then you're unnecessarily endangering civilians by putting it in the middle of a residential neighborhood.”

“I thought as much,” May said.

“It's nice that you're still willing to consider there might be other possibilities,” Talbot said. “What are they going to do once they're down there?”

“They're going to copy as much as they can and tap the line out so we can monitor further,” she said. “I have a feeling all they have him doing is updating archives, but those archives could give us a lot of intel on how they've been operating in the shadows so well all these years; and show us how they were able to spread so easily.”

“Does that mean we just keep mingling for now?” he asked.

“For now,” May replied.

“What are the odds we get out of this without having to see Don, Bunny, Abby, Carla or your mother again today?” Talbot asked.

“Slim to none on everyone but Abby,” May said. “I'm fairly confident General Cooper has already dragged her out of here.”

“Wonderful.” He leaned against the trim of the window and eyed the lock at the top of the lower pane.

“Unless gunfire erupts, you are not going out a window,” May told him. He shoved his hands in his pockets. His eyes narrowed. “I'm really glad I didn't let you bring that gun in,” she add.

“How did you know I was...”

“It's a gift,” she said. “Apparently a hereditary one.”

“We're in the office,” Skye's voice came though the comm. “No real problems getting here.”

“What does that mean?” May asked.

“Mrs. Fallon stopped several of us coming out of the kitchen,” Fitz said. “We had to do a quick round of gathering empty glasses and some trash.”

A low hiss of interference came through the comm.

“OK, we're in the closet can you still hear us?” Skye asked.

“I can still hear you but there's something coming through,” May said.

“I think it's this closet,” Fitz said. “Once we get down there we'll have a direct link with the spider playing relay for us.”

“Be careful,” May said.

“We will,” Skye said.

Talbot had clenched his jaw again. She followed his gaze towards the bar and expected to find his ex and her boyfriend. Instead she saw that General Fallon was there. He had a rocks glass in his hand and swirled the ice cube inside around it while he leaned against one end of the bar. The General hung around while the kid behind the bar made two drinks for another couple and then tried to resume whatever conversation he'd been having with the bartender once they'd left. The kid nodded and stared down at the bar to cover his eye roll.

“I'm going to get us drinks, I'll be right back,” May told Talbot.

There wasn't much of a crowd between where they stood and the bar, which gave Fallon the opportunity to see her approach. He straightened up and smiled at her.

“Hello Melinda!” He said.

“Hello again Don,” May replied. She smiled at him.

“Are you two enjoying yourselves?” he asked.

“I take it that means you didn't hear,” she said.

“What happened?” He stopped smiling and paled.

“Carla is here with her boyfriend.”

“Are you shitting me!?” Fallon asked. Several people looked at him. He lowered his voice. “I know damn good and well Bunny wouldn't invite her. One of the first things she did when Glenn and her separated was remove her from the guest list. How is she here?”

“I'm not sure,” May said. “Sue is trying to find that out now.”

“Jesus...I'm so sorry,” Fallon said. He grimaced and his brow creased.

“It didn't go as horribly as it could have,” May said. “They appear to have left the room, so I have a feeling we'll be staying in here for awhile. Close to the bar. Speaking of which,” she turned to the bartender. “I need a bourbon and a Merlot.”

The kid nodded and went to work on the drinks. Fallon stared down at his. A few seconds later, he patted her arm and took a step away from the bar.

“I'm going to see if I can find Bunny and find out for myself what happened,” he said, “And if Carla is still here then I'll ask her to leave myself.”

“You don't need to do that,” May said.

“Yes, I do,” he said. “I take care of my guests for one thing. And for another, Glenn and I go way back. He's been there for me more times than I can count. I owe him.”

 _You have a funny way of showing it,_ May thought. She smiled at Fallon.

“It's nice to know he has someone looking out for him,” she said.

Fallon winced. He looked away quickly.

“I'd better go find Bunny,” he said. “Excuse me.”

“Of course.”

The General made a quick retreat across the room and exited. When May turned to make her way back to Talbot she discovered that her mother and Sue Phillips had returned. Talbot nodded at whatever Sue said to him. He glanced over at the window. May sidestepped a couple who'd just arrived at the bar and moved as quickly as she could back towards the window.

“There she is!” Talbot said.

There was the entire possibility, May realized, that his comment might have been directed more towards the drink he reached for than it was towards her.

“Did you find Bunny?” May asked Sue.

“Yes and she didn't invite Carla,” Sue replied. “Abby called her this morning after she found out you would be here with Glenn.”  
“Wonderful,” May said.

“With any luck she won't be here much longer,” Sue said. “Bunny was going to go look for them and tell them they needed to go.”

“I just ran in to Don at the bar and he was going to do the same thing,” May said.

“As we were coming back in the room Cooper was leading Abby out,” Sue add.

“Good,” May and Talbot both said it. They smiled.

The sound of feedback and fuzz came though May's comm. She reached up and touched her ear. Talbot and her mother both narrowed their eyes at the move. May grimaced.

“Let's go get me another drink,” Lian May said.

The older May took both Talbot and Sue by the arm and lead them back towards the bar. Talbot looked back over his shoulder at May and arched an eyebrow. May waved him off and turned away from the room to face the window.

“Skye? Fitz? I'm getting nothing but noise. Can you two hear me?” She asked.

Nothing came through the fuzz. She looked around the room and then moved out into the hall. Through the open front door she could see General Fallon lead two men back down the walkway toward the garage. The two new arrivals laughed as the General gushed over his new purchase. Across the hall, Bunny was visible in the living room. She'd propped herself up against a chair and drained a glass of champagne she'd just snagged from a passing caterer.

May headed down the hall back towards the kitchen and then turned onto a shorter hallway that she knew from the floor plan contained the entrance to the basement, a closet, a half bath, and the home office. She moved right to the office door and reached for it.

“Ma'am?” a feminine voice called out. May turned and found the blonde caterer she'd seen earlier at the end of the hall with an empty tray tucked under her arm. “I'm sorry, but that's off limits to guests.”

“The bathroom is?” May asked.

“Oh! I'm sorry, no that's not the bathroom,” she replied. She point past May. “That door at the very end of the hall is.”

“Thank you,” she told the younger woman.

“You're welcome.” The woman smiled.

It wasn't until May had moved down the last bit of hallway and reached for the bathroom door knob that the caterer moved off down the hall towards the front rooms. Once she was sure the woman was gone, May moved back to the office door and quickly slipped inside the dark room. She stood at the door and listened for movement in the hallway. She could hear the bathroom door open and someone walk down the hall, back towards the main hall.

The room was minimally illuminated through the french doors and window on the outside wall. The blind was partially open and the sheer curtains on the doors had been pulled back and tied off on either side of the doors. The computer on the General Fallon's desk was on and had gone to it's screen saver—which consisted of a rotation of motorcycle pictures. There was a second smaller desk near the French doors that had a laptop and a pile of mail. The closet door was ajar. May opened the door slowly and found nothing inside the little room but the golf equipment. She noticed that the feedback had stopped and the buzz wasn't as pronounced.

“Skye? Fitz?” She asked.

Through the fuzz: “May...break...bare...you...”

“You're breaking up,” May told them. “Come back up.”

Fitz's voice broke through the distortion.

“Open the French doors....I...adjustments,” he managed to get in before the fuzz took back over.

The French doors opened out onto a diamond brick patterned patio. There were two steps down from the doors to the small patio, which had been surrounded with a hedge. A bistro table and two matching chairs were the only things on the little patio. The office door opened behind May. She immediately leaned against the frame of the open door and began to fan herself with her purse.

“Melinda?” It was Bunny Fallon's voice.

May turned and offered a slight smile to the older woman, who had taken several steps into the room. She stared at May with her hands clasped around a glass of champagne.

“I hope you don't mind,” May said. “I just needed to get away.”

“Well, normally Don doesn't...”

The office door opened again. May held her breath as Bunny turned to the door. Talbot stepped inside.

“Sorry,” he said to Bunny. “I couldn't find you or Don. I told Melinda she could come in here.” Bunny didn't have a chance to say anything as Talbot turned to May. He held up a tiny bottle of water and a packet. “The caterer's had some aspirin in their first aid kit.”

“Thank you.” May walked over and took the water and aspirin. She rubbed Talbot's arm and then walked back over to the French doors.

“I am so sorry,” Bunny said. “This is all my fault.”

“How...what?” Talbot asked her.

“I should have never told Don that I was worried about Abby being here,” she said. “Of course he's going to try and fix it and call Coop. If I hadn't done that, she wouldn't have known you would be here until they got here and she never would have had the chance to get Carla here.”

Bunny shook her head as she walked over to the secretary's desk and set her glass down. She then pulled out the padded office chair from the desk and dragged it to May. Bunny motioned for Melinda to sit and patted the back of the chair.

“Thank you Bunny.” May took the offered seat. “You really shouldn't blame yourself though. There's no way you could have known that would all happen.”

“You're too kind for saying that,” Bunny said. She patted May's shoulder and then turned to Talbot. “You let me know if she needs anything else. I'll either be in the kitchen or in the living room.” Both May and Talbot thanked her. “Now be good and let her rest,” she add as she tapped Talbot on the arm. “No hanky panky. Then again, at least somebody in this house would be getting some.”

Talbot's eyes widened and he shook his head. May could clearly hear both Skye and Fitz groan.

“That is not information I ever needed to have,” May said finally.

“I should have brought a drink in with me,” Talbot said.

Fitz's voice came through the comm.

“I need to get Jemma to seriously invent mental bleach,” he said.

“Just pretend you didn't hear it,” Skye said.

“Well...I can't,” Fitz said. “The woman looks like the Crypt Keeper, why would anyone...ahh....You don't think May would ever, you know, date him for real do you?”

“You could just ask me,” May said. “Since the comms work just fine both ways with the doors open.”

Skye burst in to a fit of laughter that ended with a snort—which ended Fitz's bout of stammering and drew a laugh from him.

“OK,” he said. “Let's get to this before we have anymore interruptions.”

The closet door was still open a crack. May walked over and closed it before she sat back down in the open doorway. Just as she sat, the door popped back open. Talbot walked over, closed it, and jiggled the handle to make sure it had latched. Once he was satisfied, he head over to the open French doors and leaned against the frame with his hands in his pockets. What was most likely less than a full minute of awkward silence felt like hours.

“How are things going down there?” May asked.

“I'm copying away,” Skye said. “They made it easy...”

“Too easy...”

“Don't say that Fitz!” Skye said. “It looks like everything he's transferred is also stored on a hard drive here. I'm so tempted to yank the thing out but then we give ourselves away. I wish I could have brought more portables, I'm going to run out of room fast.”

“My little work around should mean we don't have to come back in,” Fitz said. “If I can get this tapped right you can hack the drive from back at base anytime you want.”

“I'll stay up here until you're out,” May told them. “Let me know when you're ready.”

She moved from the chair to the unoccupied side of the door frame and leaned against it.

“Does that mean we're almost done here?” Talbot asked her. He stared out into the yard.

“Almost,” she replied. “That was a good save by the way.”

“Thanks.” He stared down at his shoes. “It's the only thing I could come up with for you being in here.”

“I think you're better at this than you think you are,” she add.

He shrugged and smiled.

“I guess when this is over...we...”

Talbot was interrupted by the door behind them. They both turned to look back at the door. It had opened enough for General Fallon to poke his head into the room. He looked back and forth between May and Talbot--and also made a very noticeable glance at the closed closet door.

“Bunny said you weren't feeling well,” Fallon said.

“It's just a headache,” May said.

“I can imagine,” Fallon said. “This was more than you expected to deal with today.”

Fallon stepped inside the room. May took it as a good sign that he left the door open behind him. She stayed where she was and checked on Talbot; who’d turned his attention to the yard and was doing his best to ignore Fallon’s presence. Fallon then made a move that drew her attention back to him. She tensed as he pulled something from his pocket. It turned out to be nothing more than his cell phone. Fallon grimaced at the small screen and glanced over at the closet door again. The hair on the back of May’s neck stood on end. She stayed ready for action and tried to suppress the electric shiver that ran down her spine. Talbot noticed her reaction. He pushed himself off the door frame. May shook her head at him and he leaned back against the frame. Fallon made one small step towards the closet; the door handle clicked and creaked open again. Through the sliver she could see there was no one standing at the door. Which meant Skye and Fitz hadn’t just accidentally come up at the wrong time. Fallon sighed as he walked over to the door. He pushed it shut and held the knob. Then with his free hand he tapped at his cell phone. A loud click came from the door.

“We had to put extra security measures in place back before we sent Jeremy to rehab,” Fallon announced. “We'd cut off his allowance and he would come in and take anything he could sell easily. Since rehab he seems content with just bringing his buddies over and cleaning out the liquor cabinet. He can’t do any real damage in there anymore,” he waived at the door. “But I still turn this on when we have guests.” He patted the door as he stepped away. “It lets me know if someone was snooping.”

“Do you really have a problem with guests snooping around?” May played dumb.

“Unfortunately,” Fallon replied.

Fallon still faced the door as he slid his free hand in his pants pocket. May kept her eyes on Fallon as she tossed her purse over into the chair Bunny had pulled out for her. Talbot came into her peripheral vision. The lower half of his body went into a boxing stance and he clenched his fists at his side. May reached over and rested a hand on his chest. She turned her head just enough to look him in the eye and shook her head.

Talbot took a step back and relaxed. Just as Fallon turned around and pointed a gun at them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

Talbot was the first to say anything:

“Jesus Christ, Don!”

He stepped away from the French doors again and stood next to May. Then he tried to take another step forward. May grabbed his arm and stopped him.

Fallon moved backwards to the open door and closed it. With the music and laughter cut off, the room instantly went tomb quiet. Birds that had been chirping outside just seconds before had taken some sensed cue and silenced themselves. May took a slight step forward. Fallon caught the move and responded by aiming the gun at her head instead of in their general direction. It was a small snub nosed revolver with no visible hammer. Based on the shape of the cylinder, May knew it only held five shots. Fallon took a few steps away from the door—putting himself closer to the closet door.

“You're going to want to leave now Glenn,” he said. “I'm giving you this one opportunity. Just walk out quietly and don't make a scene. I'll explain later. You just have to trust me on this one.”

“Like Hell I'm leaving,” Talbot shot back.

“He's right Glenn,” May said.” You should leave.” She knew by the way his eyes moved around the room that he was mentally running through his options. “You need to go.”

Talbot shook his head.

“Trust me here Glenn,” Fallon said. “The less you know the better. I'll explain what I can to you later, but you need to get out of here now.”

“I can't wait to hear that load of bullshit,” Talbot said. He turned his head away from Fallon. His jaw clenched.

“You don't understand what's going on here Glenn.” Fallon's voice went up an octave. “You really need to leave. Please!”

Skye's voice came through the comm:

“May, Fitz was able to get a message to Bryce,” she said. “He's updating Coulson and getting the emergency plan in to motion. You just need to stall Fallon.”

She shook Talbot's arm to get his attention.

“It's alright,” she told him. “You can leave. It'll be safer for you that way.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “ _An emergency plan is in motion, all I have to do is stall him_.”

“If I didn't know any better,” Fallon said. “I'd say that almost sounded like genuine concern.”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Talbot asked.

“I...I'm sorry Glenn,” Fallon said. “She's been using you to get to me. You running in to her in Senator Bailey's office was a set up.”

“Oh really?” Talbot replied. “You're sure about that are you?”

“It's no slight on you Glenn,” Fallon said. “They're pros at this sort of thing.”

“Who's 'they',” Talbot asked. He folded his arms across his chest.

 _Oh you stubborn bastard,_ May thought.

“SHIELD,” Fallon said. “She's not a former agent, she's a current agent. I'm sure if you dig in to that company of hers, it will prove to be just a front.”

“If **I** check in to it?” Talbot asked. “That sounds to me like you haven't checked in to anything. Why are you so damn paranoid about SHIELD?”

“Just drop it Glenn. I had my suspicions about her from the start,” Fallon told him. “But for your sake I didn't push it, I was really hoping I was wrong. Trust me, she's taking advantage of you.”

“That's the pot calling the kettle black,” May said.

“What are you talking about?” Fallon replied.

“Bakshi in Miami?” May said. Fallon arched an eyebrow and cocked his head to one side. “The photostatic veil?” May add. “Did you even know why they had you getting that scan?”

Fallon's face flushed. He waved the gun at her.

“Shut up,” he snapped at her. “Glenn you are going to leave NOW!”

“You son of a bitch,” Talbot said. “You really are Hydra.”

May winced as soon as he said it. Fallon's shoulders slumped. The color drained away from his face and left devastation. He closed his eyes for a moment and and shook his head. Talbot had balled his hands in to fists. His face burned red.

“I really wish you hadn't told him that,” Fallon said finally to May. “Close those doors Glenn.” Fallon motioned towards the French doors with the gun and then trained it back on May. Talbot didn't budge from his spot; he spoke instead.

“Whatever the Hell they have on you...”

Fallon cut him off by laughing.

“Why do you think the only reason I'd be involved with Hydra is because they have something on me?” Fallon asked. “My father was Hydra. My grandfather was personally picked by the Red Skull himself. If Captain America hadn't crashed that plane, my grandfather would have piloted one of those bombs in to London. I'm a damn legacy.”

“I don't fucking care,” Talbot said. “You came after MY SON!”

Talbot stepped forward. On instinct Fallon took a step back. The gun wavered for just a moment. May put her hand out in front of Talbot to stop him from pressing his luck with another move forward.

“I had nothing to do with that Glenn. I swear!” Fallon said. “All I knew was that they were trying to get to you. If I had known their plan I would have put a stop to it.”

“So you have that kind of authority within Hydra?” May asked. Fallon's cheeks flushed again. He briefly looked down. “I didn't think so.” May add.

Fallon cleared his throat. He steadied himself and the gun and motioned for May and Talbot to move to the closet. Neither of them budged.

“What about the damn mask, veil, whatever?” Talbot asked. “You drugged me didn't you?”

“I...yes...look, they had a whole other plan for you initially,” Fallon said. “But after what happened with Carla and George I did intervene and used the influence I have to change that. Trust me, my plan was better for you. I looked out for you.”

“Really!? You call that looking out for me!?” Talbot spat back.

“Yes. I do. Their original plan involved a set up that would have put you in a compromising situation and they'd hold that over you for blackmail,” Fallon said.

This time May had to twist Talbot's arm in an attempt to stop a lunge toward Fallon. Talbot winced but managed to drag May along with him a few steps before he gave in and stopped his advance. Fallon held his ground and altered aiming the gun between Talbot and May. The move had at least gotten them a little closer to Fallon.

“That was really the wrong thing to tell someone like him,” May told Fallon.

Fallon side stepped, opened the closet door and used the gun to motion them towards the closet.

“We're not going down to the basement,” Talbot said. “And you aren't going to do anything up here.”

“The house is sound proofed,” Fallon said. “Especially the office area. I'd hate to have to explain the rug to Bunny, but I can come up with something to explain if it came up missing.”

“Sound proofing doesn't work when there's an open door and you have to get by us to close that,” Talbot fired back. “Because we sure as Hell aren't doing it.”

“I have more friends here then you think,” Fallon said. “Guns accidentally fire when being shown to people all the time. This room would be clean before police even had a chance to get in here.”

“You have to hit one of us first,” Talbot told him. “I've seen you on the firing range. You're a horrible shot.”

“I'm actually a lot better than I've ever let the Air Force see,” Fallon said. “Now let's go.” He motioned again with the gun towards the closet door.

“May we're hidden,” Skye's voice said. “If you can get him down here you won't have to worry about anyone accidentally walking in.”

“Like back up for him,” Fitz add. “Get him down here and I can over ride the elevator so no one else can come down.”

“He's not expecting two more people to deal with either,” Skye add.

“Fine.” May said tersely. “We'll go.” Talbot did a double take. Fallon narrowed his eyes. “I don't want to risk someone innocently walking in here,” May said. “Does your wife know?”

“No and she isn't going to find out either,” Fallon said.

“They we don't need her walking in to check on me and my headache do we?” May replied.

May didn't wait for a response and moved. She slipped out of her shoes as she took her first two steps towards the closet. With the over sized desk still between then, Fallon didn't even notice. Talbot however did catch it. He smirked for half a second and then fell in behind her.

As soon as they heard the click of the door lock, May kicked at Fallon's chest. Fallon dropped his phone. The gun went off and sent a bullet into one of the golf bags along the wall. May went for a punch and was greeted with the gun aimed at her face. Fallon had no hesitation and fired. She felt a violent jerk and went sideways as Talbot yanked her away. The bullet whizzed past her ear. May ended up pressed between Talbot and the wall. Talbot took a step back and spun around with his hands up, keeping himself between Fallon and May. Fallon was already aiming the gun their way.

“Whoa, whoa, WHOA!” Talbot waved his hands. “Let's all just calm down here.”

“Both of you just stay back!”

Fallon stepped back. He bent over and fished around blindly for his phone. May went to move around Talbot but stopped as soon as Fallon came back up with his phone and steadied his aim. She leaned close to Talbot's ear.

“ _That can only hold five shots,”_ she whispered.

 _“Two down,”_ Talbot nodded.

“What?” Fallon asked. He slapped his phone down on one of the bare shelves and fished in his pants pockets for something. “What are you two scheming over there?”

“Nothing,” Talbot said. “Just relax.”

“I'm not going to relax until I don't have to worry about you two trying anything,” Fallon replied.

He ripped open a clear plastic baggie he'd pulled from his pocket. It contained two orange cylinders, which he proceeded to shove in each of his ears.

“What are those for?” May asked.

Fallon smiled. He snatched his phone from the shelf and punched at the screen. May and Talbot simultaneously went after him. The tiny room filled with a chorus of tones in a variety of pitches and intensities. May recognized it immediately. A SHIELD experiment from the 80's for use in crowd control. It was never implemented because of a few incidents of ruptured ear drums and permanent hearing damage. Clearly Hydra wasn't worried about possible side effects. They were almost instantaneously disorientated. Before it hit him, Talbot had managed a football tackle that knocked Fallon back in to the shelving. Fallon lost the gun, but managed to hold on to his cell phone. May went for the phone and wound up with an elbow jabbed into her throat. She hit the floor and felt a wave of nausea wash over her. May plugged her free ear and sucked in a few painful breaths. The comm link in her other ear helped filter the sound enough that she began to get herself reoriented. Talbot had tried plugging both his ears as he leaned against the shelving.

A few more taps on the cell phone as Fallon slipped on a pair of safety glasses with red mirrored lenses and the disrupting sound was joined by a bright strobe light. The light flickered in a quick burst of white and then cycled through other colors. The length of the strobe flashes began to vary. Talbot kept his ears plugged and moved to try and shoulder Fallon into the shelving again. With the way the strobe pulsed at the time of his attack, Fallon was able to side step in the dark and Talbot would up in the shelving himself. May could barely hear Skye and Fitz talking to each other through her comm.

The room lurched and May's stomach did a flop. She doubled over and groaned. Talbot went down on one knee. Fallon kicked Talbot's other leg out from under him which caused Talbot to sprawl over onto his side. Fallon turned his attention to May. And then everything stopped. The sound went dead and the lights returned to normal. Even the elevator ended it's descent. There was a four foot gap between the bottom of the closet wall and the floor of the elevator. For the first time, May had her own view of the basement lair. Fitz's voice came through her comm.

“ _Got it!_ ” he whispered.

“What did you do?” Fallon yelled at May.

He ripped the safety glasses off and punched at his phone. Nothing happened. May noticed the gun and rolled towards it. Fallon realized where she was headed and lunged for the it himself. He made it to the gun first. Fallon wrapped both hands around the gun and rolled over. Before he could get a proper aim, Talbot tackled his again. The momentum from the tackle carried both of them through the opening between the elevator floor and wall. They disappeared over the side. The two men landed on the basement floor with a thud followed by groans and a stream of obscenities. May could hear the gun slide across the concrete. She scrambled to the opening and dropped down into the basement.

The two Generals were already up and moving in opposite directions. Talbot rushed towards the gun. Fallon limped to a nearby metal desk and yanked open one of the drawers. May began a move for Fallon but stopped in her tracks when he spun around and aimed another gun at her. This one wasn't a tiny revolver. May held her hands up and took a step back. Fallon scanned the room for Talbot.

“That's far enough Glenn,” he said.

Talbot kept moving for the gun. Fallon frowned and aimed at him.

“Glenn stop!” May yelled.

Talbot looked back over his shoulder. As soon as he saw the gun he turned around and put his hands up. He ground his teeth together and cursed. The gun was just behind his feet.

“Kick that over here,” Fallon told him.

Talbot continued to curse and used his heel to kick the gun farther back behind him. May felt a sudden urge to walk over and smack him for pushing his luck like he was. Then she noticed where he had kicked the gun—right between two of the antique wall sized computers. Barely visible in the shadows behind them was Skye. She'd managed to fold herself up on the floor between the two mammoth metal boxes. Skye slipped one hand forward, pulled the gun back to her and nodded to May. May turned her attention back to Fallon, who had begun to laugh.

“What's so funny?” Talbot asked him.

“You are THE MOST stubborn S.O.B. I have ever met,” Fallon replied.

Talbot shrugged and fold his arms across his chest. He leaned against the edge of a table full of computer equipment. The equipment blocked a direct view of the floor—and therefore between the computers Skye had hidden herself. May scanned the room slowly in an attempt to find Fitz but had no luck.

“How did you do it? How did you shut it down?” Fallon asked May. He kept the gun on Talbot and shifted his gaze between his two prisoners.

“I wasn't the only one up there,” May replied.

Fallon scowled at her.

“So what now?” Talbot asked. “There are a lot of people who know Melinda and I were here. It's going to seem awfully suspicious that we both went missing from your party and wound up dead.”

“You being here makes this a lot more work than it should have been,” Fallon told him. “If you...I can get you out of here and you just leave and don't make a scene...but you have to go before I call for back up.”

“You expect me to walk out of here, keep my mouth shut and let you kill her?” Talbot asked.

Fallon had walked backwards to a cabinet. He pulled a small black case from it and opened it one handed on the desk. There was a small jet injector and several vials of a clear liquid inside. Fallon managed to load a vial into the injector without taking his eyes off either of them.

“I doubt she'll die,” he said finally. “At least not right away. I just have to keep her sedated until my contact gets back to me. I think Hydra will be pleased to have one of the few remaining SHIELD agents left in their hands. She probably has a lot of useful information.”

“Except they won't have the chance to find out,” May told him. “I was in communication with my people all the way up until that closet door closed. They had our back up plan in motion already. And our Plan B is a lot less subtle than the original plan. It's sure to draw a great deal of attention to this house.”

Fallon turned red again. He shook his head furiously.

“This is not happening now,” he said. “I retire next year. I've had an exemplary military career. I have worked too long and hard for someone like you to come in and screw it all up.”

“That's the risk you take when you align yourself with something like Hydra,” May told him.

“I bet they leave that part out of freshman orientation,” Talbot add.

Fallon pulled the ear plugs from his ears and accessed a touchscreen set up on the desk to listen in to the party upstairs. Sirens grew louder and guests had begun to make comments about them.

“We can help you if you cooperate with us,” May said.

Fallon shook his head and laughed again.

“I'm not betraying Hydra,” he said.

“Why not?” Talbot asked. “You've done that with practically everything else in life.”

“What do you mean by that?” Fallon asked.

“If you've put Hydra first then you've had to betray the Air Force, at the very least, and also the government at some point,” Talbot said. “And we all know about you and monogamy...”

“Shut up,” Fallon said.

 _That explains his reaction to the potential blackmail question,_ May thought.

“Why don't you listen to what SHIELD has to offer you?” Talbot asked.

“I have a year until I retire,” Fallon said. “If I would even want to do anything with SHIELD my career gets tanked by Hydra. Or they just kill me. If I let her walk out of here then SHIELD ends my career. I will do what I need to do to keep my cover and get through this last year.”

“Do you really think Hydra will let you retire?” May asked.

“Of course they will,” he replied. “I've devoted my career to furthering the goals of Hydra. I'm a legacy. My sons are legacies that are furthering the goals of Hydra...”

_Good to know._

“...I've earned my retirement and SHIELD isn't going to screw that up now,” Fallon said. He looked at Talbot. “You can think I'm horrible person all you want right now, but I'm still your friend and as your friend I'm telling you that if you leave now I can make it look like you were never here. I'm more than willing to cover for you. You don't want them involved in your life any more then they have been. They will either use threats or...”

“Or make him comply?” May offered. Fallon looked down at the floor briefly. “You know for someone who's so pro Hydra, you're trying really hard not to turn him in to your handlers.”

“I was raised with this,” Fallon said. “I chose this for myself a long time ago. I wasn't forced in to it, I had opportunities to take a completely different path—my father made sure of that. But I've seen what forcing someone in to it does to people. I'm just trying to do him a favor.”

“You want to do me a favor?” Talbot asked. “Then eat that damn gun.”

“Glenn if you don't leave now, I will shoot you,” Fallon said. “That would be doing you a favor too. It's the least I can do for you.”

“What's to stop me from talking to SHIELD after I leave?” Talbot asked. “Or anyone in the Air Force?”

“The minute you start talking Hydra will come after you,” Fallon told him. “I won't be able to do anything then. Without me there's no way to keep them from coming after George if they think they need to keep you in line.”

Talbot balled his fists and took a step away from the desk. May held up a hand in each Generals' direction. She stepped in front of Talbot but looked at Fallon.

“Are you trying to goad him in to attacking you so you can rationalize shooting him?” she asked. “Make yourself feel less guilty after it's done?” She turned back to Talbot. “You need to leave,” she told him.

“I'm not...”

She cut him off.

“This is a lot deeper than you should have ever been involved,” She told him. Then she lowered her voice. “ _We're three to one, we know what we're doing, and back up is on the way._ ”

“That's enough,” Fallon said. He pointed the gun at Talbot but wouldn't look him in the eye. “This is your last chance Glenn.”

May grabbed Talbot's arm and tugged him to get him to move. He took a reluctant couple steps towards the elevator. Fallon relaxed. He actually smiled until he caught Talbot's icy glare. Fallon kicked a chair over towards the still partially raised elevator. Talbot straightened the chair out, made a move to step up onto it and then stopped to take another look around the room.

 _You stubborn..._ May's thought was interrupted by Fallon.

“Damn it Glenn stop stalling,” he said.

Out of the corner of her eye May caught movement. Fallon had his attention completely on Talbot. She turned her head slightly and caught Skye as she moved into a position behind the table full of computer equipment that Talbot had leaned against. May laid a hand of Talbot's arm to get his attention. She smiled and whispered.

“ _Have it your way then. Get ready._ ”

Talbot nodded.

“DROP THE GUN FALLON!” Skye yelled.

She was now crouched behind the desk and barely visible between two desktop computers. Fallon swung around and aimed in the direction he'd heard the voice. When he couldn't immediately see who had spoken he spun back around to May and Talbot—both of whom had taken advantage of his lapse and ducked to the side of another large metal cabinet near the elevator. Fallon began to fan the room with the gun.

“Who else is here?” He asked May.

“I told you I wasn't here alone,” she replied.

“I said drop it General,” Skye called out.

“How the Hell did she get in here?” Fallon asked. “There's no way!”

Fallon spun around again in an attempt to locate Skye. As he moved closer to the table that Skye had taken cover behind, Talbot darted out from his spot and charged the older man. May cursed and charged from her position as well. As she moved she caught sight of Fitz; who rolled out from under a work table behind Fallon, with one of the caterer's serving trays in his hands. Fitz raised the tray up over his head as he moved. Fallon saw Talbot first and threw his attack off with an elbow jab hard in the center of Talbot's chest.

With the wind knocked out of him,Talbot doubled over and lost his footing. He hit the floor, rolled over, and clutched his chest. Fallon aimed the gun down at him and frowned.

“I'm sorry Glenn,” he said.

As he fired, Fitz slid in with the tray in front of him like a shield. Skye screamed and popped up from cover. Fitz managed to cover the vital areas of himself and Talbot. The bullet ricocheted off the tray back at Fallon and tore into his shoulder. Fallon screamed. He staggered back to a wall and slid down to a sitting position on the floor. Fitz looked down at the dent in his tray and then at Skye.

“I'm really glad they weren't joking with us about these things being bullet proof.” He told her before he sprawled out backwards onto the floor.

Fallon was trying to raise the gun again, but with his shoulder so damaged he could barely raise the butt of it up off the floor. He groaned and slumped. Skye walked over and yanked the gun from his hand. She set the little revolver on the work table Fitz had hidden under and covered Fallon with the bigger gun.

Footsteps rushed across the floor above them. Talbot used the desk to pull himself up from the floor. Fitz got up. He continued to stare at the dent in the tray. The door jiggled above them but didn't open. That was followed with pounding. May looked at Fitz.

“I guess disabling it means they can't get the door open at all,” he said. “I should maybe fix that.”

Fallon chuckled and then groaned again.

“He said he had friends here,” Talbot reminded them.

“Can you get a hold of Bryce?” May asked Fitz.

Fitz tucked the tray under his arm. He pulled his cell phone out and began to move towards where the wiring left the house and connected to the junction box outside. Halfway across the room they could hear muffled gunshots above. More pounding on the door came after that.

“General are you down there?” A voice called through the door. “General?”

May grabbed the gun from the table. Gunshots splintered the door sending shards down into the elevator. Fitz took cover behind the computers Skye had hidden behind.

“General can you hear me?” A second voice called out.

Talbot pointed at Fallon and shook his head. Fallon closed his eyes and exhaled.

“IT'S SHIELD!” he yelled.

“You bastard,” Talbot spat.

He rushed at Fallon and angled a punch down at him. Fallon slumped into unconsciousness. More gunshots rang out upstairs. Fallon's back up were forced to turn their attention back into the room above and return fire. With the closet door gone, they could all hear how chaotic the room above had become; multiple voices yelled as shots rang out.

“Take cover,” May told Skye and Talbot.

Talbot looked at Fitz and pointed to the elevator.

“Any chance that thing could possibly come down anymore?” He asked.

Fitz held up a small circuit board.

“Not a chance,” he replied.

Talbot grabbed the lower half of a nine iron from the table and ducked under the elevator. Skye hunkered down behind the end of the table Fitz was behind and May concealed herself behind the metal cabinet Fallon had pulled the jet injector from. Everything went silent. Two sets of feet dropped down into the elevator. The new arrivals crouched down, guns drawn, and scanned the room.

“General!”

One of them noticed Fallon slumped along the wall. He holstered his gun and dropped into the basement. His partner kept his gun out as he slid down into the room. They both rushed to the General's side. The Hydra operative who'd put his gun away knelt down, felt for a pulse, and then nodded to his partner.

Both men looked familiar to May. She knew she must have seen them upstairs but she couldn't help thinking she'd seen them elsewhere as well. The one with his gun still drawn had a military buzz cut. She glanced back to where Talbot had hidden himself. He was coming out from under the elevator with the golf club. He had his full attention on the one with the gun. May realized where she had seen him before—he'd been drinking coffee in the break room with Talbot when she had first arrived at the base to meet him. The gunman glanced around and began to turn to look behind him. May popped up enough to aim the gun properly and yelled at him to keep him from catching sight of Talbot.

“Drop the gun!”

The gunman spun in her direction. Talbot rushed him and swung the gold club just as he fired. The shot went wide of May and tore in to the cinder block wall over Fallon and the other Hydra operative; who instinctively covered his head and leaned over Fallon as tiny chunks of the wall rained down on them. The one Talbot had hit splayed out over a table. His gun slid out of his hand and stopped just short of dropping over the edge. He made discombobulated attempts to grab at his gun while trying to keep his legs under him. Talbot gave him another crack with the nine iron and he slumped down onto the floor. The remaining Hydra agent jumped up and tripped over one of Fallon's legs as he tried to get his gun back out. May and Skye both aimed at him and moved in. He leaned against the wall near Fallon and held up his hands.

Footsteps moved across the floor above them. The new arrival dropped down into the elevator, gun drawn, as a fresh round of shots rang out upstairs somewhere. He zeroed in on Talbot and aimed his gun at him. Talbot ducked and threw himself back under the elevator. Skye aimed at the new arrival. With only one gun trained on him, the captured operative seized the moment and made a grab for the gun May held. May slammed him back into the wall. She could hear Skye as she yelled at the gunman to stay up in the elevator.

A shot whizzed by May and burrowed into the wall. Skye dropped down behind the table. She was quickly joined by Fitz who had the server's tray back out. May could hear Talbot as he cursed at the new arrival. Thuds and crashes followed. Skye moved to help May contain the Hydra operative, while Fitz moved towards Talbot's fight with his tray up in front of him. May managed a rapid succession of elbows to the face of her assailant and he went down into a heap next to Fallon.

One more shot rang out. The room was abruptly quiet.

_Oh shit!_

Just below the elevator Talbot rolled the Hydra agent off him. His chest was spattered with blood. May dropped next to him and felt for the entrance wound.

“It's not mine,” he told her.

Talbot sat up and rubbed at the back of his head. May looked over and watched a blood stain on the gunman's shirt continue to spread. The gunman made several short gasps as blood trickled from one corner of his mouth and then lost consciousness. Skye took his gun and felt for a pulse.

“Still breathing,” she said. “But barely.”

“Are you hurt at all?” May asked Talbot.

He rested his elbows on his needs and shook his head.

“I'm pissed but I'm fine,” he told her. “Now I have to figure out how many more damned people on the base are fucking Hydra.”

A fresh set of footsteps ran across the floor above them, sending them all back in to alert mode.

“Leo! Skye!” A voice called out.

“That's Bryce,” Fitz said. He went to the elevator and looked up. “We're down here!”

“They're here!” Bryce called out.

Another set of feet appeared in the elevator. The man leaned down, surveyed the room, and whistled. He noticed the three motionless figures on the floor.

“They're going to need medical attention,” Skye said.

The FBI agent nodded.

“Everyone will be getting checked out,” he replied.

“Is everyone on your team alright?” May asked him. “We heard gunshots.”

“We've got three wounded, but nothing serious,” he said. “Those Hydra guys were pretty suspicious when we started evacuating. There were several who refused to leave so the call was made to get more aggressive. As soon as they saw a gun they opened fire.”

“How badly does this screw up your operation?” Skye asked.

“As far as what we've been doing now, nothing,” he said. “We busted the woman running the charity while everyone was occupied with the gun shots. As for future operations, we'll have to see what kind of word spreads on the catering company. We can always dismantle this one and begin a new one. That plan has always been there.” He shrugged. “Time will tell.”

Several more FBI agents arrived with an EMT. They dropped themselves down into the basement. The EMT immediately moved to the one Talbot had shot.

“You know, I should probably get the elevator working again,” Fitz said. “Might make things easier.”

“I need to call Coulson,” May said to Skye. She turned to Bryce and gestured towards Talbot. “Can you have him checked out.”

“I'm fine,” Talbot repeated from his spot on the floor. He rubbed at his jaw.

“Like I said, everyone will get checked out,” Bryce told her. “We can start with him though. And we will need Leo and Skye for a debrief.”

“Understood,” May said.

 

 

Between the local police and the FBI, nearly everyone had been cleared from the scene over the course of a two hour period. Quick interviews had been done to determine what guests had seen or heard and the FBI had pegged several guests as potentials for future surveillance. A drone noted which neighbors walked to which homes and if those homes had the green junction boxes or not. The vehicles marked with Nimble Baron Catering had been removed from the scene as rapidly as possible. Skye and Fitz had left with the rest of the staff for debriefing off site once they'd been checked by the EMT's. In keeping with the gas leak story, all of the Fallons' neighbors had been moved up to a tent the “gas company” had set up in the field where guests cars had been parked.

An FBI agent had retrieved Talbot's car and parked it near the house while Talbot received a medical check. That was were May found him, once she was done updating Coulson, leaning against the open trunk of his car. He was pulling a faded blue tshirt on to replace his blood spattered shirt and jacket. He stood up when he noticed May's approach and tossed a gym bag back into the trunk of the car.

“Everything alright?” He asked her as he opened the passenger door for her.

“We can't be sure yet,” she replied. “There's going to be some fallout, we just can't anticipate when it will happen.” She waited for him to get into the car himself before she continued. “There's no way to hide Fallon was involved in something at this point. Hydra knows we have him and three others in custody; and we'll have to tell the military something. You know the Air Force will interview everyone who was at this party including you.”

“So what am I telling people then?”

He weaved through the crowd at the entrance of the subdivision and darted into an opening between a news van and another car to get onto the now congested main road. He cut close around the news van as it tried to pull off the road—which resulted in the driver cursing at Talbot through his open window and Talbot flipping him off as he sped past.

“We're holding on to the gas leak story as long as we can with the public,” May said. “Everyone is being told that General Fallon and a few of his guests were overcome by gas fumes and taken to the hospital. Mrs. Fallon will be briefed by the FBI and a SHIELD agent we have on the way. The Air Force will be told that you aided a joint SHIELD and FBI investigation, Senator Bailey has already agreed to smooth things over if anyone gets upset that you were involved without prior authorization. We're also trying to keep my cover intact; so as far as everyone is concerned, I was just there as your date.”

“What am I telling the Air Force about this joint operation?” Talbot asked.

“You'll be telling them an embellished version of the truth,” May replied. “SHIELD had a tip that Fallon was Hydra and Mrs. Fallon was working with a charity that was on the FBI's radar. The FBI and SHIELD thought that the two might be connected and you were brought on board to ensure that General Fallon's name and reputation weren't dragged through the mud if it turned out to be nothing, or something legitimately military.”

“The equipment in the house?” he asked.

“The FBI is removing that for us and turning it over to us,” We'll at least have something salvaged. Hydra will circle the wagons, so we'll lose any future intel we were hoping this would bring us. I imagine there will be a lot of people suddenly moving out of that subdivision, but at least we know who they are.”

May let Talbot steer the conversation for the remainder of the drive back. He went with with everything but Fallon specifically, or any other Air Force officer involved. He asked for clarification on little details on the official story, what information SHIELD thought it might get from the files they would be getting, and what May might have learned about the charity organizer from the FBI.

When he pulled along the curb of the drive at the Double Tree he put the car in park and left the engine running.

“Thank you for the ride back,” May said.

He shrugged.

“It would have looked a little funny for me not to take my date with me when I left right?”

“True.” She nodded. “How are you doing?”

“I'm still pissed and a little sore but otherwise I'll be fine,” he said. “I think I might be actually more pissed that you all were right about Don more than anything else and Coulson knows I know you were right.”

“I'll try to keep Phil from gloating the next time you two talk,” she said.

He smiled for a second and nodded.

“So,” he rocked in his seat, “this is...all done and over and...” his voice trailed off. He waved his hands out in front and shrugged again.

“I guess it is,” May replied.

She found herself staring at him as he stared out the windshield. She reached over and turned off the car. Before he had a chance to utter a word, she was out of the car and tossed the keys at the valet as she moved for the front doors.

“Ma'am your claim ticket!” The valet called out.

“That would be mine.” She heard Talbot tell the kid.

 

 

Streaks of sunlight managed to find their way through the cocoon of comforter and sheet around May. That was the first thing she was aware of. The second was that she was laying on one of Talbot's arms and his other arm was firmly wrapped around her middle. She could tell from the way his chest rose and fell against her back that he was already awake.

 _Now what?_ She thought. _There's no way this would ever work out. At least not long term. Short term it could possibly work. Sometimes short term ends up as long term. No, that's unrealistic. It's better just to stop whatever this is now._

“Do you want to go to brunch with my Mother, aunt and I? May asked.

_Why did I just..._

“Sure,” he said. He wrapped the arm she lay on up around her.

Her heart did a quick double time.

“Would you want to go to my cousin's wedding in two months?” she asked. “You'd have to wear your dress uniform though.”

“OK,” he replied.

A thought occurred to her.

“Would you shave off your mustache?” she asked.

“Don't push it,” he replied.

“Good answer.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wraps up the story I had originally come up with for these two. I have some other ideas, but I'm not sure if I should keep adding chapters or separate them and create a collection.  
> I skipped a graphic/detailed sex scene because as it turns out I'm still uncomfortable writing them! lol

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first posted fanfic anywhere and I hope you enjoy it. I have fun throwing characters in to situations they aren't that comfortable in and seeing what plays out in my head.  
> And now for some story notes:  
> I rated this as mature mostly to cover the little bit of language and to cover my butt for things that might be questionable for a teen audience in future chapters.  
> Internet Movie Database lists Talbot's wife's name as "Carla Talbot" in the credits for Season 2 Episode 1, so I'm sticking with that. I know the Marvel wiki for Talbot says that he was married and later divorced Betty Ross--General Ross's daughter and Bruce Banner's ex girlfriend. Since Talbot wasn't included in the Hulk hunting forces in The Incredible Hulk (2008), I'm assuming that they've either decided to not use that relationship from the comics, or that it happened and ended before the movie events.  
> I picked Andrews Air Force base as Talbot's headquarters just because it put him close to Washington DC that way.


End file.
